Water Works

I visited Waseca yesterday, and got a Minnesota geography lesson from a friendly farmer who told me his family has a “medium-sized” 1700-acre corn and soybean operation in Faribault County.  The county seat of Faribault County is Blue Earth.  Faribault County is just south of Blue Earth County, whose county seat is Mankato.  Faribault is the county seat of Rice County which is Northeast of Blue Earth County.  In between Blue Earth and Rice Counties is Waseca County, whose county seat is, thankfully for a poor cheesehead like me, Waseca.
If you have bothered to read this far, you may be wondering what I was doing in Waseca.   I was attending a singularly important event for trout anglers:  the 2026 Minnesota Neonic Forum.

​Sponsored by the U of M extension, the Forum brought together close to 100 researchers, farmers, local seed companies, and concerned citizens, with the same number attending by Zoom.  Over a dozen of the “concerned citizens” were TU members.
The seminar was equal parts disturbing and hopeful.  Disturbing because Neonicotinoid insecticides from treated seeds are entering our lakes and streams at levels that have serious, chronic effects on insect populations, with the hardest hit areas being the Twin Cities Metro and the Driftless Area.  Disturbing because treated seeds are exempt from regulation, and we may not have yet reached peak contamination levels.  Perhaps most disturbing, evidence is mounting that Neonic metabolites damage the nervous, metabolic and reproductive systems of mammals, including humans.  Hopeful because evidence is also mounting that alternative, less toxic methods of Integrated Pest Management deliver better financial results to farmers. Hopeful because Neonics are not “forever chemicals”—recovery will be measured in months and years, not decades.  Hopeful because places like New York, Ontario and Quebec have shown a path to dramatically reducing Neonic usage.  And hopeful because of the tone of the meeting:  respectful, fact-based and inclusive.  Even when a researcher from the University of Wisconsin mentioned that after the Packers were beat by the Bears, he now knew how Vikings fans felt, he was not booed.  After all of the crazy stuff that has happened in Minneapolis this week, it was a relief.
The Minnesota Legislative session starts in five weeks, and we are working on a bill to regulate Neonic-treated seeds, modeled after a bill that was passed in New York.  It is not going to be easy to get a hearing, let alone a vote, but I am more hopeful than I was yesterday.  As the session approaches, we will be providing more updates and asking for help. Meanwhile, another great way to relieve stress is to go trout fishing.  With winter returning tomorrow, I can pretty much guarantee you will be the only one on the stream.