Group aiming to save family farms launches fundraising campaign

A citizens group fighting to save family farms has launched a new way to help its cause.
Dodge County Concerned Citizens has begun a gofundme drive to raise funds to save Minnesota family farms. 
“We are going to start to get people armed financially so they can fight the industry,” said Sonja Trom Eayrs, one of the founding members of DCCC. She noted that this latest effort is a way for family farmers to fight the big ag industry.
Trom Eayrs said money raised during the campaign will help pay for her family’s latest lawsuit against Ripley Township and feedlot operators Timothy and Jennifer Langdon of Cannon Falls. The Langdons are attempting to build the 12th swine facility in a three mile radius by Lowell and Evelyn Trom’s farm on the south side of Dodge County. Funds raised would also pay for other lawsuits in Minnesota.
However, Trom Eayrs wants people to look at the big picture of what’s happening rather than focusing specifically on their family farm. 
“This is part of a much bigger dynamic,” she says. “They (big ag) push for these factory farms in rural America. You’ve got to look at the big picture instead of focusing on a single project,” Trom Eayrs said. 
She said small farmers like her family need to level the playing field to fight this industry. 
The Trom family has been embroiled in controversy with feedlot operators for more than four years. After extensive legal wrangling, the family lost a lawsuit last year against Dodge County to stop a feedlot by their farm in Westfield Township. 
Within the past two weeks, the family has launched another lawsuit involving a feedlot near their farm in Ripley Township. Officials recently approved a variance and Conditional Use Permit to allow the project of 2,400 hogs to proceed. A building permit has not been issued yet. 
“We need your help,” Trom Eayrs said. “Saving the Trom family farm and others like it, will help save our environment and our communities.”
DCCC was established a few years ago to raise awareness regarding the negative implications of factory farms in Minnesota. It also provides resources to farm families facing installation of a large feedlot near their homes and farms. 
For those wishing to contribute to the effort, the gofundme campaign can be accessed at www.gofundme.com/saveMNfamily farms.