NEW TREES ON OLD LAND
Minnesota DNR helps re-establish forests on public, private land across the state
By Levi Jones | West Central Tribune
Minnesota is filled with farmland and forests. While it can feel like the two operate in opposition — with forests being cut down to make room for farmland, and trees being planted on farmland to grow new forests — trees and agriculture actually impact each other in important ways, according to Doug Tillma, section manager for the Division of Forestry in the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
Anyone driving around farmlands will often notice lines of trees planted to separate fields from each other and from water features. These lines of trees play an important role in maintaining soil health and keeping farms sustainable in the long run.
Trees planted around farmlands to prevent winds are known as shelter belts. These trees prevent strong winds from hitting crops directly and help to slow the impact of soil erosion, Tillma said.
Lines of trees planted around flowing bodies of water within farmlands, like rivers, are known as buffer strips. These work to absorb unwanted biological material and help to separate the planted crops from chemicals found in those waters.
These two examples are methods by which farmers have been able to protect their crops and promote soil and water conservation on their farms. As more farmers and activists push for sustainable farming practices, the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources, the state’s soil and water conservation agency, and local Soil and Water Conservation Districts have taken on important roles.
We provide reforestation efforts across the state of Minnesota. Even if you are not planting trees but you are participating in parks or go to a lake or water wildlife management area, a lot of those trees are produced here.
- Sarah Ebert, Minnesota State Forest Nursery supervisor
Bringing trees back to Minnesota lands
To supply the state with native saplings that help the environment, these entities and other organizations rely on the Department of Natural Resources and its State Forest Nursery.
This nursery, located at Badaura — a few miles south of Akeley — grows saplings and collects seeds for reforestation projects across the state.
“We provide reforestation efforts across the state of Minnesota. Even if you are not planting trees but you are participating in parks or go to a lake or water wildlife management area, a lot of those trees are produced here,” said Sarah Ebert, Minnesota State Forest Nursery supervisor.
Ebert and her team work to gather seeds of native Minnesota trees — like white pines, spruces, oaks and maples — and use them to reforest parts of Minnesota that had previously been forested.
“What we do is we lift seedlings out of the ground so that they are bare-root seedlings. We lift in the fall and the spring. Then the seedlings have to be cooled down so the storage can help promote healthy seedlings,” Ebert said. “When you lift seedlings in the fall, you have to freeze them, so you need the capacity to freeze them in the wintertime. Then we slowly warm them back up in the spring.”
The DNR has two general types of land it chooses for reforestation efforts.
The first type of land which is often reforested is land that is forested but has been impacted by large amounts of tree cutting or fires. This reforestation can often happen naturally, but seeds from the Minnesota State Forest Nursery help move the process forward.
The other form of reforestation occurs in open land that was previously forested. This reforestation often happens at a smaller scale, according to Tillma. Individuals may come to the DNR with a plot of land they own that is no longer being used as farmland and want to have it reforested. These lands are often former pastureland or marginal farmlands that aren’t in use anymore.
ROOTED IN OUR AGRICULTURAL HERITAGE
Joel Lemberg, a Minnesota Department of Natural Resources forest supervisor serving the Backus area, takes a tour through the woods in this June 15, 2017, file photo. Reforestation efforts on both private and public land will help to attract wildlife and maintain sustainability throughout Minnesota.
Jillian Gandsey / Forum News Service
In order to facilitate these reforestation efforts, the DNR sells saplings, around 5 to 8 inches tall and about two years old.
Each year, the agency sells around 4 million to 5 million saplings, according to Tillma, mostly sold in batches of 300 or more trees, with smaller numbers available through local Soil and Water Conservation Districts.
But it isn’t just large-scale reforestation that benefits from the State Forest Nursery. Many of the trees in public spaces across Minnesota trace their roots back to the nursery.
“We also help folks that are looking to create an environment in their own backyard or on their property that is bare ground or pasture land; if they want a windbreak or they want some
privacy, we provide seedlings for that,” Ebert said. “We also provide seedlings that are a fruiting shrub, so if individuals are looking for ways to draw in wildlife we have those options as well. It caters to a wide demographic of need.”
Farmers, and other landowners who want to plant trees on a smaller scale, are able to do so through local Soil and Water Conservation Districts.
According to the Minnesota Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts website, there are currently 88 local districts. The association is a nonprofit that works to provide leadership and a common voice for the local districts. More information about the resources in each district can be found at www.maswcd.org.
Trees around farmland help to shield crops from high winds. When planted around flowing water, the trees can help form a biological barrier to prevent chemicals from the farm getting into the water and biological matter from the river getting into the farm.
West Central Tribune file photo
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Through local SWCDs and DNR foresters, farmers are able to get advice on making their farms more sustainable and can purchase resources such as seedlings to help in protecting their farmland.
“We would encourage landowners to take a look at their property and contact one of our DNR foresters if they are interested in managing their land. We can help to see where they might have land available for that sort of work,” Tillma said.
Contributed / Minnesota Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts The nonprofit Minnesota Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts works to provide leadership and a common voice for the 88 local Soil and Water Conservation Districts. More information about the resources in each district can be found at www.maswcd.org.
Keeping a steady supply of seedlings
In order to help with seedling production, a new seedling cooler project broke ground in spring of 2024. This project was funded by a mix of monies from the state general fund, the State Forest Nursery Account and federal grant dollars, according to the State Forest Nursery Program fiscal report published in April of 2024. The project was approved after an analysis by the DNR in 2022 resulted in a threephase effort to help the State Forest Nursery sustain its role in reforestation efforts.
Funding for the project, and other modernization was passed in 2023 by the State Legislature. This included $10 million to modernize multiple aspects of the State Forest Nursery, from seed extraction and storage to offices.
According to Ebert, the new cooler will be an improvement over the existing State Forest Nursery infrastructure.
“We have some coolers from the original build. They are very old and are not very efficient. They don’t have the capacity we need, and there isn’t a lot of space to get forklifts in to get boxes in and out,” Ebert said.
The current infrastructure only allows for the DNR to lift and store half a million seedlings at a time. This causes a rush for the nursery to get older seedlings out and new ones in within a short window of time.
“I think that this addition of the cooler is a really key part to the success going forward with the nursery because we are ramping up production and looking for ways to expand,” Ebert said. “This cooler is really going to help the consumer because we are going to be able to get higher-quality trees out quicker for them.”
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Tillma, section manager
WHAT ALL THE CLUCK IS ABOUT
Backyard chickens a hot topic for several Minnesota communities
By Levi Jones | West Central Tribune
Whether it is a dog to go on walks with or a cat to spend time with lounging at home, pets are a welcome part of many people’s lives.
Traditionally, in many cities across Minnesota, animals allowed within residential areas are limited to domestic pets — dogs and cats as well as some birds, reptiles and rodents. Other animals, whether smaller farm animals or larger livestock, are usually required to remain in agricultural areas and aren’t allowed in cities — save for on special occasions.
However, there are many that are hoping to make changes to those rules.
According to a report by St. Cloud Live on Sept. 11, 2024, the St. Cloud Planning Commission began talks on whether or not to allow for residents to raise chickens within the city, either as pets or as a source of food. This is part of a growing trend of Minnesota cities allowing for backyard chickens or small flocks of chickens that are kept within residential areas.
Rules allowing residential chickens are in place in cities across the state, including St. Paul, Buffalo, Hopkins, Sartell and New London, according to ordinances each of those cities have posted online. The rules for how many chickens and what kinds vary by city.
If St. Cloud decides to allow for residential zone chickens, there will still need to be discussions regarding how many birds can be kept and under what circumstances.
Chickens are most commonly described in city ordinances as farm animals, animals typically associated with farms or farm work. In most cities, including Montevideo, farm animals are restricted to agricultural zones. In Willmar, farm animals are also allowed in industrial zones, though a maximum flock of 50 chickens is permitted within these zones.
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Other cities, like Pennock and Kandiyohi, allow for limited farm animals in residential areas; both cities require at least 10 acres of land and no animal shelters within 300 feet of the property.
In 2020, a proposal was brought to the Willmar City Council alongside 14 letters of support, according to a report by the West Central Tribune. However, the council decided not to act on the proposal, citing concerns about disease jumping from backyard flocks to the commercial poultry operations that call Willmar home.
Diseases like the highly pathogenic avian influenza, also known as avian flu, have been a major concern in recent years as an ongoing outbreak of the disease has impacted many commercial and backyard poultry flocks since 2022.
According to the Minnesota Board of Animal Health and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, there have been 103.47 million birds affected by the virus across 1,180 flocks in that time. Of these flocks, 669 flocks have been backyard flocks.
As St. Cloud continues its discussion on whether or not to allow residential-zone flocks, commissioners will have to look at the benefits of a community’s access
to fresh and local eggs and meat, as well as the issues that can be caused by disease, smell and noise.
In New London, which began allowing people to raise chickens in residential zones after a 3-2 council vote in June of 2011, there are several criteria that someone must meet in order to raise chickens.
New London requires a permit for residents to raise chickens in the city. In addition, they may not have more than four hens and may not keep any roosters.
The chickens have to be kept outside of the home and must be provided a shelter that meets several requirements, including ventilation, full enclosure and cleanliness.
Backyard chickens have been a hot topic for cities across Minnesota. In 2020, a proposal was brought to the Willmar City Council asking to allow for residents to raise chickens. The proposal was declined due to concerns about disease. West Central Tribune file photo
According to New London City Clerk and Treasurer Jen Dahl, the city has consistently received permits for backyard chickens since 2016, save for in 2021 when no one filed for a permit and in 2022 when the city switched to annual renewal and received four permit requests.
After 2022, the city returned to their long-term permits and another single permit was filed in both 2023 and 2024, according to Dahl. This means that there are six current permits for chickens in a residential zone in the city.
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LEARNING ON, AND ABOUT, THE JOB
Willmar students encouraged to look into agriculture’s more niche markets, learn transferable skills
By Levi Jones | West Central Tribune
Willmar Senior High School 10th-graders Carson Hegstrom, from left, Alex Cartagena and Jake Evink work on a small motor in agriculture teacher Dana Hedberg’s small motors class on Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. Students in the class work to disassemble and reassemble motors like the ones found in riding lawnmowers to learn about how they work.
Photos by Levi Jones / West Central Tribune
When I graduated from high school, you could count on two hands the number of people who were involved with production agriculture. I believe now you could probably count on one hand the number of students whose family’s sole income is production agriculture.
- Dana Hedberg, Willmar Senior High School agriculture teacher
For the past 22 years, the agriculture industry has been in decline. According to the most recent Census of Agriculture data as reported on by Kelly Asche from the Center for Rural Policy and Development, there has been a 19% drop in the number of farms in Minnesota, going from 80,839 to 65,531.
Conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, the census is a complete count of U.S. farms and ranches and the people who operate them.
While this drop in the number of Minnesota farms seems drastic, the same census found that there has been only a 7.5% drop in farmland
through the same time period. The census found that the average farm increased in size by 40 acres in that time.
However, many have observed an aging population of farmers and fewer people able to step into the ownership role.
“I graduated from Willmar High School 22 years ago. When I graduated from high school, you could count on two hands the number of people who were involved with production agriculture. I believe now you could probably count on one hand the number of students whose family’s sole income is production agriculture,” said Dana Hedberg, Willmar Senior High School agriculture teacher.
The eggs incubated in Hannah Sanders’ animal science class at Willmar Senior High School give students the chance to learn about raising chickens. Once the eggs hatch, students will be able to learn about the young chicks before they are brought back to a local farm. The eggs shown here on Monday, Oct. 21, 2024, have around a week until they will be ready to hatch.
Buying farmland can be prohibitively expensive for young individuals who want to start farming. Many farms find the success they have after generations of work.
“If your family does not have land, there is no way you would be able to start. A couple years ago we had some land sell for $13,000 an acre and the guy sold 400 and some acres. There is nobody in their right mind that is going to borrow a kid right out of college, 21 years old, enough money to buy that land,” Hedberg said.
One option for people seeking to enter agriculture is focusing on a niche market.
“If I wanted to own a farm and I wanted to be the owner, I would have to find a niche market. I wouldn’t buy 80 acres of land and put up a thousand-head hog finisher. I am going to buy 12 acres of land with a little barn and I’m going to raise farm direct-to-table market pork until I can start getting bigger,” said Tim Uhlenkamp, Willmar Senior High School agriculture teacher.
These more niche strategies would allow for new farmers to grow within the industry until they are able to compete with larger farms
built over generations.
“Farming is generational, and it is passed down from family to family. I mean I just heard on the radio about a sixth-generation farm. If you do
If your family does not have land, there is no way you would be able to start. A couple years ago we had some land sell for $13,000 an acre and the guy sold 400 and some acres. There is nobody in their right mind that is going to borrow a kid right out of college, 21 years old, enough money to buy that land.
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Dana Hedberg, Willmar Senior High School agriculture teacher
the math, that’s 200 years of a family on that farm,” Uhlenkamp said.
There are ways other than inheriting, renting or buying land that
someone can use to get into the agricultural industry, and certain skills like those taught in Willmar Senior High School’s ag classes are important.
Even without owning a farm, those interested in the industry are able to work on farms in a variety of fields. As farms grow, the work required on them grows too, opening the door for people with different skills.
“At big farms, we have somebody that just works on soil health, somebody that just works on machinery. So we still need people in those trades. It’s just that they’re not necessarily the owners,” said Lance Brune, Willmar Senior High School agriculture teacher.
Hedberg, Uhlenkamp and Brune are three of six agricultural teachers in their department, alongside one industrial tech teacher, who work with hands-on skills like engine repair, welding, plant and animal sciences and more.
These classes give students the opportunity to experience work in several industries, including agriculture. In Hannah Sanders’ animal science class, students are incubating eggs to learn about what needs to happen to hatch healthy chickens.
“We just want to give them an opportunity to see what’s going on because a lot of these kids are not true farm kids. Right now we are hatching chicken eggs to give them that experience of ‘Hey, this is what would happen on a farm if you wanted to do something like that,’” Sanders said.
Opportunities to experience hands-on work are important to teachers in Willmar Senior High School’s agriculture department. According to Uhlenkamp, the classes provide students with a chance to discover what they are passionate about and what they want to do after school.
“We have students that don’t know what they want to do after school. We have students who have a passion and don’t know that they have a passion for it. We have students with very little, if any, background in any of the agriculture trades. And so our job now is to show them what they would be doing and what industries are looking for,” Uhlenkamp said.
Halfpoint
These classes are often on topics that help give students a chance to learn about a broader subject. For example, plant sciences teaches about horticulture, landscaping and floral growing rather than growing corn and soybeans. This is done to keep students engaged with the content and inspire them to continue looking into careers in that field.
Alongside inviting subjects, students in these programs are able to get real work opportunities throughout the community. Through programs like the developing On the Job Training Program being introduced by Brune, Willmar
We have a lot of good kids here in Willmar. A lot of them sometimes just need to learn what they need to do to be a good employee in the workforce. So we are trying to get those experiences to our kids when they’re in high school. And if they do make mistakes, they have somebody there to help them out.
- Lance Brune, Willmar Senior High School agriculture teacher
Senior High School students are able to jump straight into the work that they are curious about while earning credits towards graduation.
“We have a lot of good kids here in Willmar. A lot of them sometimes just need to learn what they need to do to be a good employee in the workforce. So we are trying to get those experiences to our kids when they’re in high school. And if they do make mistakes, they have somebody there to help them out,” Brune said.
Tailoring lessons and programs around local needs is just one aspect of the school’s presence in the
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community. Many of the in-school programs, such as the small engines class taught by Hedberg, rely on the local community to give students learning opportunities. In the small engines class, students work on donated engines to discover how they function by taking them apart and putting them back together.
In the welding class, many of the materials used for welding are donated by local businesses that would otherwise be sending the material to scrapyards. And the eggs which Sanders’ class is incubating come from the farm of one of her neighbors, where the chickens will return after their time with the class.
Many of these resources, and the lessons provided through the school’s ag program, are time-sensitive. A spring class may not have the freshly harvested crops to show students that a fall class would. This means that classes have to do a lot of prep in order to be able to schedule timely projects.
In order to help with this, the
A guinea pig peeks out from their “sleephouse” in Hannah Sanders’ classroom, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024, at Willmar Senior High School. Classes in the school’s ag department are designed to appeal to and inspire students. Sanders’ animal science classroom features small animals like fish, a bearded dragon, a rabbit and the pictured guinea pig. By teaching animal science through the lens of these animals, students learn about basic animal care and behavior which they can apply to their own pets, or the industries they go into after graduating.
school’s recently built heated greenhouse gives students the chance to try growing their own plants throughout the school year. In the greenhouse, classes are growing vegetables, flowers and other plants.
While many of the classes and their projects are designed around agriculture directly, students who take classes in the agriculture department are able to experience all the hands-on work required to seek out careers in other industries.
“Nationwide about 35% of all jobs are directly related to agriculture, even though you’re not in production ag. Whether you are working at a dealership, you are driving trucks,
you are at a vet clinic, you are tied to agriculture whether you like it or not. As much as the hospital might say they aren’t tied to agriculture, they are, because who are they serving,” Hedberg said. “A lot of the businesses around here wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for the farmers. Thirty-five percent is for the nation, but in out-state Minnesota I would say it is closer to 50% or 60% that is directly tied to agriculture.”
While current job trends are moving away from production agriculture, so many industries and communities are reliant on agriculture to continue. For these industries, having a workforce that understands agriculture is important.
DETERMINED TO FARM
One farmer’s grit and dedication to return to the farm after a life-altering accident
By Ariana Schumacher | Agweek
Farming has always been the dream for Justin Minnaert.
“I have wanted to farm ever since I was a little kid. I was driving tractors before my feet would even touch the floor,” Justin said. “It’s just always been in my nature. There’s nothing else I’ve ever wanted to do. Whenever I would get out of school, I was always calling my dad and seeing where he was at and what I could do to help. It’s just been in my blood from day one.”
However, it’s a dream that easily could have been stripped away from Justin.
In July 2020, he and his dad, Kevin, were helping with a Sioux Valley Cycle Club endurance race where their job was to go around and make sure that the course was clear.
It was just like any other day at the racetrack for the father-son pair. They were able to have a little downtime at the track before the races began that day.
Justin Minnaert drives the grain cart during harvest on his operation in Lake County, South Dakota. Ariana Schumacher / Agweek
“We sat up on top of the hill and talked about what work we had to do for the rest of the week, fences to fix, cows to check, machinery to get ready” Kevin recalled.
While doing the final check of the track at the end of the race, Justin’s life changed forever.
A portion of the event was on the motocross track, which Justin had ridden on hundreds of times. The course was a couple of miles of hilly terrain.
“I went off of a jump that I’ve done so many times, never thought twice about it,” Justin recalled.
Coming off that jump, Justin hit a rain rut on the downhill landing.
Justin Minnaert uses a lift chair on the back of his pickup to get in and out of farm equipment. Ariana Schumacher / Agweek
“I went over the bars. The bike caught me in the middle of the back and exploded two of my vertebrae. I was paralyzed instantly,” Justin said.
Luckily, Kevin was right behind him.
“I was 30 seconds behind him. I saw him on the ground, and I came up to him right away,” Kevin said. “The first thing he said to me was ‘I’m sorry dad, but I think I’m paralyzed.’”
Not only had Justin broken two vertebrae, leaving him unable to use his legs, he also had broken several ribs and had a collapsed lung.
“So, I was kind of struggling to breathe at the same time, just a cluster of emotions going on at once,” he said.
The paramedics were still at the track and were able to get Justin stabilized and flown to Sanford Hospital.
I went over the bars. The bike caught me in the middle of the back and exploded two of my vertebrae. I was paralyzed instantly - Justin Minnaert
I asked him, I said, ‘Justin, what do you want to do?’ And he said, ‘Well dad, I want to keep farming.’ And I said, ‘Well in that case, we are going to make it work.’
- Kevin Minnaert
Is the farming dream shattered?
Farming wasn’t something that Kevin thought Justin would be able to return to.
“When I saw him in the hospital, you know, it’s something that breaks every father’s heart just seeing their son in that much pain,” Kevin said.
However, he didn’t lose hope.
“I had hope, you know, just let him heal up, get him through the whole trauma process,” Kevin said.
When Justin was feeling somewhat better, Kevin had a heart-to-heart conversation with him.
“I asked him, I said, ‘Justin, what do you want to do?’ And he said, ‘Well dad, I want to keep farming,’” Kevin recalled. “And I said, ‘Well in that case, we are going to make it work.’”
The return to the field
Throughout all his recovery, Justin never lost sight of his goal which, in typical farmer fashion, was to be back in the field for harvest in 2020.
“Harvest is my favorite time of the year. I absolutely love being in the combine,” he said. “That was kind of my goal to drive me to help get myself better and get back and trying to find some form of normal after my life-changing event.”
It’s a goal that Justin achieved.
“I made it for corn harvest. We missed bean harvest, but I made it in time for corn harvest,” he said. “Once I got home, there wasn’t a day that we combined that I wasn’t in the combine.”
For the most part, Justin can do
Justin Minnaert driving the combine during harvest season. Ariana Schumacher / Agweek
Justin Minnaert driving the combine during harvest season. Ariana Schumacher / Agweek
most of the things he used to do on the farm; the way he does them has just changed.
“We do the same thing as everybody else. It just takes us a little longer time to get things done,” Kevin said.
The biggest difference that Justin faces is simply getting into the farm equipment. But he has found a way to make it work, thanks to a lift that has been installed on the back of his pickup. The lift is operated by a remote control.
“I can get the lift to pick up off the back, it swings around, and I get out of the driver’s seat on to the seat on the lift, and then it’ll swing me over and it will put me in basically any piece of equipment that I want to run,” Justin said. “I get in the combine, the semi, the skid steer, the tractor.”
He even uses the lift to do odd jobs too, from lifting things to gutting deer.
“Because it has a high lifting capacity for weight, so we’ve used it to pick up blown semi tires and take them to go get fixed or pick up any random thing,” Justin said.
Most of the tractors and combines are operated by hand anyways, so Justin didn’t have to make many adaptions to the equipment. In the planting and grain cart tractors, they have attached levers to the brake pedals so they can be used by hand.
They have a fully automatic semi that they have built hand controls so that Justin can operate it, while still making it accessible for others on the farm to drive as well.
“So, it doesn’t matter if I’m in there or someone else, we can just jump in there and go,” Justin said.
There are very few things that Justin isn’t able to do on the farm.
“I get out of power washing for the most part, so I mean that’s good and bad both,” he said with a smile. “I can help a little bit sometimes.”
Justin has a track chair that can be used for off-roading. It also can stand him upright.
“When I am in it, I can be fully standing if I need to work on something or sometimes, I’ll help a little bit
Justin, his sister Alissa, dad Kevin and mom Lauri on Justin’s first day back in the field following the incident that led to his paralysis. Contributed
Justin is able to operate the lift with a remote control, so he can operate it even while he is up in the equipment.
Ariana Schumacher / Agweek
Justin Minnaert installed hand levers onto the brake pedals in his tractors. Ariana Schumacher / Agweek
with the power washing, but I tend to run over the hose more than I do anything,” he said.
Kevin is happy with the adaptions that Justin has made on the farm and is excited to have him back at the operation as the third generation.
“It’s just typical proud father,” Kevin said. “It’s wonderful. It’s back to game on that we’ve had since when he graduated from college. He’s by my side, I’m by his side. We do things side by side.”
“Being able to do a lot of these tasks, it just makes me feel like old me,” Justin said. “It just gives me that sense of self back in that I can still do what I loved before, I just have to take a little more time, and I need a little more help to do what I did before, but I can still farm and do what I love.”
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Justin Minnaert receives the Governor’s award for Outstanding Individual with a Disability on Sept. 24, 2024. Minnaert is center, with Gov. Kristi Noem at right. Contributed
I’m the one in the chair, but I get to keep doing what I do because of the love of my family and my friends and my community. They’ve wrapped their arms around me so graciously, and it makes it so much easier to just continue doing what I love because of them.
- Justin Minnaert
Being a light for others in similar situations
Justin has been an inspiration to people around the state. To Justin, he’s just doing what he has always wanted to do.
“People say ‘oh you’re inspiring’ or whatever, but I don’t know, to me, it’s not. To me, I just wanted to come home, and I want to keep doing what I did before,” he said. “My worst days are the days where I’m not doing anything, so I just like to keep moving forward.”
Justin’s goal in sharing his story is to help others.
“I just want to help those that end up in either my situation or a similar situation and just show them that there is, you know, hope after an injury like mine, because those first days, weeks, hours, after having something like this happen, such life altering, it’s dark,” he said.
To parents in similar situations, Kevin offers words of encouragement as well.
“It’s tough. It’s extremely tough,” he said. “You go through a lot of ups and downs, but don’t give up. If he’s willing and you’re willing both to make it work, then do it.”
Through Game Plan 4 Hope, Justin had been connected with another person in a wheelchair,
something that really helped him through his recovery.
“Just seeing that person in a chair and kind of having their life together like it truly does give you that hope that like, hey this isn’t going to be the end, we are going to overcome it,” Justin said.
This year, he received the Governor’s award for Outstanding Individual with a Disability.
“I was really blown away,” Justin said. “I had zero idea that I was even nominated for such an award. As I started piecing things together, they told me who it was that nominated me, and they told me some of the other information they had known about different things I had done, and things started clicking, and I was like some family members must have been up to some stuff behind my back that I didn’t know about. They did a really good job of playing shocked.”
It’s an achievement Justin says he never would have accomplished alone.
“I’m the one in the chair, but I get to keep doing what I do because of the love of my family and my friends and my community,” he said. “They’ve wrapped their arms around me so graciously, and it makes it so much easier to just continue doing what I love because of them.”
FOOD SOVEREIGNTY
Leech Lake Band thrilled to construct new wild rice processing center
By Michael Johnson | Agweek
The Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe was recently awarded $3.6 million from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration to build a wild rice processing facility in Cass Lake. That means the rice that is harvested, bought and sold here will soon be processed here, too.
Kenneth Fox, Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Division of Resource Management director who oversees the wild rice program, looks at the award and the incoming facility as a “badge of honor” for the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe. This will be the first tribal-owned operation of this kind in the region.
Gavin Herrera is a planner for Leech Lake Tribal Development in Cass Lake. He said this new
facility, expected to be built in 2025 and completed at about the next harvest season, means economic development for the tribe in the form of more business and more jobs. He and Fox expressed that the new facility is also an opportunity to grow food sovereignty in the community and show off the wild rice industry to generations who may be disconnected from the important staple in the tribe’s diet through education and tourism opportunities. Currently, Leech Lake Wild Rice is bought by the Band’s Division of Resource Management in Cass Lake. This year, about 140,000 pounds were bought from Leech Lake permitted harvesters and then sent off to three processing facilities in Minnesota locations in Deer River, Gully and Cass Lake. The
Isaiah RedDay fills 1-pound bags of Leech Lake Wild Rice on Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, at a processing facility in Cass Lake, Minnesota.
Photos by Michael Johnson / Agweek
I think we have a long history of bragging that we have the best wild rice.
- Gavin Herrera, planner for Leech Lake Tribal Development
rice comes back to the current Cass Lake facility in 50-pound bags after being wood-parched. Parching is the process used to remove the hull of the wild rice using heat. It’s then measured into 1-pound bags, boxed and shipped across the world.
“Now with this grant we’ll be in that game, you know, and we’ll oversee that whole process from start to finish,” said Joe Fowler, who oversees marketing of the rice, calling the award announcement an exciting time for the tribe. Sending the rice out for processing costs around $100,000.
The funds awarded will help construct a 6,100-square-foot processing facility that will process Leech Lake’s only commercially produced crop.
“Wild rice is a sacred part of Leech Lake’s culture and a key resource for tribal members and the tribal economy,” said Sen. Tina Smith, a member of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, in a news release. “This grant will help the Leech Lake Band promote the welfare of its members.”
Fox said a lot of work has gone into finding the right location for the new facility. Herrera said about half of the cost of this new facility is equipment costs. Much of the equipment has to be custom made as there are not many facilities like this that process wild rice. The new facility is expected to process about 200,000 pounds of wild rice in a season.
Herrera was involved in writing the grant for the funding and had help from the Region 5 Development Commission to see the project come through. While much of the work had already been done with prior attempts at gaining funding, there was a short timeline to submit everything once
word came through that funding was still available.
The project has been shelved several times over the last 20 years as funding has come and gone, according to Herrera. The desire to build it never seemed to go away. In this most recent attempt, neighboring reservations have also given their support to the project.
“We want to increase inter-tribal commerce,” Herrera said. This EDA investment is expected to create 15 jobs, according to tribal estimates. Tribal leaders hope the facility will
Fishing, hunting and water recreation are all popular here as the reservation is about 60% water.
Herrera said other economic development opportunities that they are researching include finding uses for the byproducts of wild rice, such as the husk, that could find a use as a fuel source.
This project is funded under the Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2023, which provided EDA with $483 million in additional Economic Adjustment Assistance Program funds for disaster relief and recovery
I think our people will be very proud and very happy that it’s being sourced by us, for us.
- Joe Fowler, wild rice program coordinator for the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe
provide an ecotourism aspect that introduces more people to the growing, harvesting and processing of wild rice. There is hope to also display and sell other tribal goods like maple syrup, honey and art in the facility. It could be one more tourist attraction among the other abundant tourist destinations in this area of the state.
for areas that received a major disaster declaration under the Robert T. Stafford Act as a result of Hurricanes Ian and Fiona, wildfires, flooding, and other natural disasters occurring in calendar years 2021 and 2022.
Joe Fowler is the wild rice program coordinator for the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe.
Gavin Herrera is a planner for Leech Lake Tribal Development in Cass Lake, Minnesota.
Keeping traditions alive
The new facility will continue to produce wild rice the way the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe is known to produce. That includes hand-harvested rice from natural rice beds. Once harvested that rice is wood parched rather than by other means of heating. That’s an important part of the traditionally made wild rice product and one that tribal members said gives their rice an advantage over processes that involve gas heating. Wood heat is a more costly method, but they believe it creates a better tasting and smelling product.
“I think we have a long history of bragging that we have the best wild rice,” Herrera said.
There’s a bit of playful poking that goes on between communities that produce the crop. But there is a serious pride behind the product, as well.
“I see that with this kind of facility, we can bring that to light more,” Herrera said.
Wild rice season complete
It was an average year for rice harvest, according to Fowler. But it was a significant decline from 2023, which was a phenomenal year where about 240,000 pounds of wild rice was harvested there.
“It was more rice than we knew what to do with, but it was a good thing to have,” Fowler said of last year’s harvest.
Having an abundance of wild rice on hand is more than just good business, it’s about food sovereignty, Fowler said.
“We want to make sure we have stock on hand so in case an emergency does happen we are able to stabilize ourselves and nurture ourselves with that food source that is raised naturally here,” Fowler said. “I think our people will be very proud and very happy that it’s being sourced by us, for us.”
The Tribe bought rice for 29 days this year from those with a Leech Lake ricing permit. They started at $7 a pound but as it became clear that
product was harder to gather this year, the price increased to a record high of $10 a pound.
“You would talk to ricers and they had to work for it, they had to travel for it,” Fowler said. The difference is not unlike the fluctuations other crops have seen this year, which involve fluctuating moisture levels and other weather-related issues.
“And then we’re also looking at climate change, you know like what does this mean for our beds,” Fowler said. Fowler explained that the rice fell freely from the stems earlier than expected. That makes it difficult to harvest, but it also means more seed falling into the water to produce more stands of rice for future seasons and future ricers.
Isaiah RedDay pours a 50-pound bag of wild rice into a machine that will fill 1-pound bags of wild rice.
