Sonja Trom Eayrs, a Twin Cities attorney, grew up on a farm outside Blooming Prairie, Minn. A decade ago, Eayrs started waging a litigation campaign in Dodge County to compel local governments to enforce the rules against the growth of massive hog operations.
While small victories in court were ultimately swallowed on appeal, Eayrs has now penned a memoir-ish look back on her fight that put a target on her back in her small rural hometown. The book also offers an unsparing view of consolidation in the agriculture industry.
In “Dodge County, Incorporated,” Eayrs says she and her family “witnessed firsthand the effects of Big Ag that are rarely discussed in mainstream food and farm media.”
She recently spoke with Minnesota Star Tribune agriculture reporter Christopher Vondracek.
Q: We both grew up in southern Minnesota. What’s your thought about how Blooming Prairie might differ from when you grew up?
A: A couple of years ago, I’m visiting my mother in the nursing home, and I find out from a relative they’re spreading manure on the edge of Blooming Prairie. There’s a Facebook page called, “You Know You’re From Blooming Prairie When.” So I put on there, “you know you’re from Blooming Prairie when it smells like pig [feces], and it’s mid-October.” The first two comments are supportive. Then, boom. The hog mafia realizes [what I’ve said], and, whoa, Facebook is blowing up. So, what’s it like today? Anybody who is aligned with corporate agriculture is in a power position. Everyone else remains quiet.
Q: I often hear from farmers who say heavy-handed government regulation puts the small farmer out of business. Why talk about “corporate ag,” and not governmental farm policy or a desire for affordable food?
A: Corporate agriculture has harnessed our government policy. You look, there is no such thing as cheap food. Because we are all subsidizing this. They externalize all these costs, and we are all [paying] as taxpayers.