Viewpoint

By Lucas Lang

North Dakota needs animal agriculture.  I’ve watched from a distance the “debate’ over the Devils Lake hog farm.  And while I have been disgusted by the visceral reaction of those opposed, I must admit I am not surprised.

While this romanticized version conjures up warm feelings of nostalgia, it simply doesn’t represent modern agriculture.  We need to encourage young producers in every way possible to break into an ultra-competitive industry. 

Supporting animal agriculture is an effective way to get young producers into agriculture. Land is often swallowed up by urban development and already established, more aggressive farms who have broken up every blade of grass, tore down every shelter belt, and mitigated every wetland they could in the quest to grow more soybeans and corn. While we can debate the merits of this overproduction and specialization of just two crops, we can’t overlook that bringing such marginal land back into production is a risk that many young producers just can’t spread out over other acres.

A properly regulated CAFO, in compliance with state health laws allows producers to feed their families without the expense of buying or renting tens of thousands of acres. Rather than over-produce for the Chinese market, our growers could turn their products into delicious pork chops, steaks, or high-quality milk and avoid all the stresses that come with trade deals and exporting.

To those who aren’t involved directly in agriculture but are worried about the environmental impact; I would venture to guess that the thousands of boats, jet skis, and pontoons that traverse Devils Lake during the season do far more to pollute the lake than a lagoon ever could. Also, as consumers want us to move to more holistic and organic farming they must realize that the soil nutrients must be replenished, and rather than rely on the use of imported and synthetic fertilizers the use of manure would awaken the micro biology and provide a win-win for the local farmer and the hog operation.

Put simply, we need Mr. Aasmundstad and thousands more like him; not only for their future, but for the future of North Dakota.

Lang is a farmer from Sterling and is the District 7 representative on the NDFB Board of Directors.