Reconstruction of Hwy. 57, demise of drought and food shortages

Finally, construction is underway on Minnesota Highway 57.

It’s been a long time coming.

One of the impacts of reconstructing Mantorville Ave. is that enormous trees — maples, elm, and a variety of other deciduous trees that are old growth have to fall to the chainsaw. It was a colonnade of majestic beauty that provided a tunnel of shade during the humid days of July and August (also know as summer in Kasson).

Well, it’s one of the sacrifices made to improve the multi-patched blacktop that, during spring breakups, was more of an obstacle course that a roadway.

Oh well, that’s progress.

Speaking of progress, four members of the Kasson Lions Club performed a much needed clean-up of the Masten Creek bed that was once a part of the former Lions Park.

To a driver passing over the creek on 57 it was nothing visible. However, to those who traverse the sidewalk that crosses over the concrete culverts, the sides of the creek were littered with debris.

I was told by one of the Lions working that they recovered tires, a lawnmower battery and a lot of empty plastic bottles and cans.

A big thank you to the club that contributes in ways that are not often recognized by most in our community.

One more thing — the recent monsoonal rains have snuffed out the drought that was gripping the area over the last few years. Now, we are blessed with an abundance of rain that is beginning to cause field flooding of newly planted corn and soybeans.

While we’re out of the drought, he latest U.S. Drought Monitor shows the western U.S. is in a severe to extreme drought condition. Some of those states are major agricultural zones. What happens if reservoirs dry up? Those western states that produce crops that feed America will be forced to pass on planting crops this year.

While we’re on the subject of farming, there are those at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) who have been monitoring the food supply chain. They are concerned that shortages may occur if producers are unable to get their foodstuffs to grocers who sell the products to the consuming public.

President Joe Biden has warned Americans that a food shortage is coming to America within the next few months.

“The war in Ukraine has put a lot of strain on the global food supply, as well as fertilizer and energy costs. Russia and Ukraine are some of the top food producers globally, making up around 50 percent of all fertilizer production, distribution, and sales. They are famously known as the breadbasket of Europe and make around 30 — 40 percent of the world’s supply of wheat. However, Ukraine has effectively banned many exports since the initial invasion from Russia, including several staple foods such as wheat and grain. All of these issues trickle down to fertilizer prices skyrocketing, the already hurting farmers of America having to compensate for these costs, and consumers having to pay higher prices for the demand of goods,” according to an opinion piece in Dakota Student, published May 4.

PROGRESS

“Isn’t it odd that we should take a spasm, every now and then, and go spinning back into the dark ages once more, after having put in a world of time and money and work toiling up into the high lights of modern progress?”

—Mark Twain