LEWISTON, Minn. – The Land Stewardship Project, which puts the environment ahead of factory farming, says that the Daley dairy farm has reached the end of the line to build a massive feedlot outside Lewiston. Sean Carroll, the Project’s policy director, praised the state Supreme Court decision not to review a lower court decision against the people of Winona County. “It’s finally over,” Carroll said. The decision closes the door to further appeals.” Since 2018 the Daleys have fought Winona County enforcement of its maximum on feedlots. Daley also targeted the nongovernmental Land Stewardship with a claim that the Project had gamed the appeal process. Carroll cast the Court decision in broad terms:
“This isn’t the first time factory farm owners have attempted to overturn the democratic process through the courts. Unfortunately, it’s increasingly part of Big Ag’s playbook here in the Midwest. These lawsuits aren’t really about nuanced legal claims that courts need to figure out — there’s nothing illegal about a community standing up to address consolidation. Rather, such lawsuits are a strategy for draining the resources of individuals, organizations, and local units of government that dare to stand up for the land and people. Such a strategy can be intimidating and exhausting for local folks. However, in this case the people of Winona County have proven that tenacity and a belief in doing the right thing can win the day.”
The Daley expansion would have made its Lewiston farm larger than 99% of all livestock operations in the state, according to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. The result of such expansion, Caroll said, pushes small and medium-size dairies out of business by a system that rewards expansion and consolidation, no matter what the impact is on local economies. Such consolidation not only decimates farm families but also local businesses and institutions like school and churches.”
Carroll. LSP motto: “Supporting Sustainaable Agriculture.”
Verbatim
Carroll: “Citizens, through their local units of government, have a right to determine what their communities will look like in the future. Outside forces that support an industrialized, large-scale system of livestock production saw the Daley Farm case as an opportunity to gut those rights and weaken local decision-making authority.