The Minnesota Corn Growers Association (MCGA) and Minnesota Soybean Growers Association (MSGA) have formally released various environmental activist organizations as defendants from litigation filed against them and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA). By releasing the environmental organizations as defendants, the MCGA and MSGA will proceed with the complaint against the MPCA as the sole defendant at this time.
In December 2025, MCGA and MSGA commenced a lawsuit in Faribault County District Court to halt the unprecedented efforts by environmental activist organizations to bypass statutory authority and compel the MPCA to take on the additional role of regulating agriculture drainage systems in Minnesota. Public drainage systems in Minnesota are already subject to significant regulatory oversight and authority. The Minnesota Legislature has expressly assigned state regulatory authority over public drainage systems to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR). In addition, drainage systems are managed and controlled by local jurisdictions, including county boards, joint county boards and watershed districts.
The environmental advocacy organizations asked to be dismissed from the litigation, and MSGA and MCGA have agreed to dismiss them from the lawsuit. The MCGA and MSGA, however, will proceed with the ligation against the MPCA as the sole defendant to clarify that the agency does not have jurisdiction to regulate public drainage systems due to current statutory and regulatory process that already exists.
“We filed this case because public drainage systems in Minnesota are already subject to strict state and local regulation,” said Wes Beck, President of the Minnesota Corn Growers Association. “It is ironic at a time when there is bipartisan support for easing some regulatory burdens here in Minnesota and across the country, that there are attempts to add even more regulation on farmers and others who would be impacted by inserting the MPCA as another regulator. We hope the court agrees with our argument that the existing law and regulatory process in Minnesota is overseen by responsible governmental entities and is effective in protecting our water resources. Adding the MPCA as another layer of permitting and regulation would be duplicative, burdensome, expensive, and unnecessary.”