Prairie Farm Center receives $97,000 for construction

(WASHINGTON, DC) - U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson announced that the proposed Prairie Farm Preservation Education and Exhibit Center in Canby will receive $97,000 towards construction as part of the 2005 appropriations package that passed the House this week.

“I’ve been working with Dick Regnier, Rep. Aaron Peterson and others for a while to help get this project off the ground,” Peterson said.

Peterson had requested $1.7 million for the project, and more funding has been earmarked in the State bonding bill that failed in the Senate last spring.

“Given the deficit and the cuts in funding for a lot of appropriations requests in Congress, we were lucky to get this money,” Peterson said. “I hope the state legislature keeps this project in the bonding bill when it finally happens.”

The Prairie Farm Preservation Education and Exhibit Center will provide demonstration of agricultural practice that protects the sustainability of water resources, wildlife and native plant habitat. The center will provide education on agricultural methods, demonstration of actual practices and a preserve of native plants and grasses in the identification of native plants.

The exhibit area will display farm machinery used in the farming and land conservation process that contributed to the protection of water resources, wildlife habitat native plant habitat and the preservation of agricultural history.

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