When City Folk Interfere

Agri News:

"The stockyards began in 1886, when most livestock arrived via the railroad. South St. Paul was a natural choice for a stockyards for several reasons, according to a historical account provided by the Dakota County Historical Society. The Mississippi River was a cheap source of ice and also a drainage and sewage disposal area. There were artesian wells on the property that provided drinking water for the animals.
The stockyards struggled and flourished throughout their 120 years of operation. In 2003, when Central Livestock Association purchased the Zumbrota Livestock Auction Market, the board of directors was mulling the future of the South St. Paul market, which was plagued by high taxes, high sewer bills, commercial development pressure and increasing traffic congestion."

This is really too bad.
Now a lot of people don't understand how this works.

For a lot of MN population (as with many ag states) having the stockyards located so close to the capital made things very convienient...just like having the main railroad hub located in the county-seat .... it made doing business with the state easier.
No special trip needed to file paperwork .... pick up new farming regulations ... visit the State Ag dept for various reasons .... during the week you might even stop to talk to your state rep to give your opinion on the latest round of taxes that threaten your livelihod ... drop off entry forms to the fair grounds .... pick up those things only found in town .... visit with family & friends ... yeah there's a lot of just run in run out -- but there was so much more going on.

Now I know a lot of you city folk might say "just do it all online"
But there's a couple of things you don't understand:

there are still parts that don't get cable/internet and dial-up is usually a long distance phone call for each connection time. And doing it via cell phone is way out of budget.

Also - if you are lucky enough to get internet connections .... shipping costs do major munchies on your profit line in a good year -- now try to do it with rising food, utilities, gasoline, taxes ... and then there's the stuff for the farm .... yes they are two seperate items.
If you are raising any type of livestock your corn feed prices have skyrocketed as more feed-farms sell their crops for fuel (the irony is anything can make fuel - even yeast!
You know those dandilions you kill every spring? Fuel) .... if you are raising any type of crop you will need to have gasoline to run your equipment - but those prices are going up too .... then there's an increased price in having the vet come out to check the stock/sending in soil samples for testing ....

there is just so much that people don't understand that you could fill an entire library.

Just remember people ... if there's ever some sort of national emergency ... it will be the farmers and the needleworkers that will keep us going. They are the ones who know how to do such things as living off & making necessary items from the land. They are the salt-of-the-earth who will keep Man going.