Ryan Peterson, Joins the Irrigators Association of Minnesota (IAM) Board of Directors at their annual 2023 meeting and Convention at the Freeport Community Center on Feb 16th.
Ryan, a longtime irrigating farmer, and oldest son of former IAM president Alan Peterson, partners in the operation of the “A & L Peterson Farm” with his brother Nick and their mother Laurie and their families near Clear Lake, Minnesota. Earlier this week MCGA announced that Ryan’s brother Nick was elected to the Minnesota Corn…
DNR opens application period for reimbursement of well interference costs resulting from the 2021 drought
Feb. 3, 2023 The following is a news release from the Minnesota DNR. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources encourages well owners, high-capacity water appropriators and water suppliers to apply for reimbursement of costs associated with the resolution of well interferences that occurred during the 2021 drought. As part of a relief package to address…
AGRI VALUE-ADDED GRANT PROGRAM
The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) is now accepting applications for the 2023 Agricultural Growth, Research, and Innovation (AGRI) Value-Added Grant Program. The program provides funding to help processors add value to Minnesota agricultural products by investing in production capacity, market diversification, and market access for value-added products. The AGRI Value-Added Grant application must be…
Comments by the IAM President Jake Wildman
Greetings IAM Members, I hope everyone one had a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year. From all of us at IAM, I hope 2023 brings you joy and happiness.
I just want to first start out by saying thank you to every member that has supported IAM. Over the last year or so, the board has made it goal to get to that 500 member mark and I can tell you that goal has been achieved in 2022. Thank you to all of the long time members, as well as the new members who joined in 2022. The board cannot express enough how much we appreciate all of your support. It means so much, and we will continue to do everything in our power to advocate for your right to irrigate in 2023 and beyond.
It’s that time a year again where the board has been busy planning IAM’s annual meeting and convention. We are still working out some of the details, but in the newsletter you will be able to find a tentative agenda for the day. The event is scheduled to take place on February 16th at the community center in Freeport MN. I feel we have a nice line-up of speakers again this year that will present on some interesting topics. I hope you are all able to attend and I look forward to seeing many of you on the 16th.
On the legislative side of things, IAM along with our lobbyist, have been busy preparing for legislative session that started at the beginning of the month. As you are all aware, there was an election that took place last November which resulted in some changes in St.Paul. Because of these changes, IAM feels it will be more important than ever to have an active presence down at the capital and we plan on doing just that. There are a lot of new faces on both sides of the isle and all of us the Ag community, not just us as irrigators, need to be in front of these newly elected officials telling our story and discussing our issues. We need to be the ones forming the narrative before the narrative is formed for us.
I am excited to announce that IAM is planning Day on the Hill at capital again this year. We are currently working on the details, but please mark your calendars for Tuesday, February 28th. I will have more details at the annual meeting and you will also be able to find them on IAM’s website as they come available. You can also register to on attend the event on the website as well. I can’t stress enough the importance of having good attendance for events like this, so if your schedule allows, please plan on joining IAM at the capital for day on the hill.
I’ll wrap up by just saying thank you again for all of your support. There will definitely be challenges over the next few years, no doubt. But I can assure you IAM will face these challenges head on and continue to represent your interests as irrigators so you are able to irrigate today and into the future.
Hopefully I’ll see many of you at one of our events coming up here in February and I hope everyone has a good rest of the winter.
IAM 