As a dairy farmer and one of the Minnesota Farm Advocates, I edited these stories after collecting them with Ken Meter for the Minnesota Farm Advocate Oral History Project. i worked with partners Holy Cow! Press and the Superior Radio Network to write the book and a series of radio programs that aired on public and community radio stations nationwide.. Ken Meter shot the photo that appears on the book cover. Carol Bly wrote the Foreword.
Lou Anne Kling and Anne Kanten, two southwestern Minnesota farm activists, started the advocate program. They worked with lawyers and state officials to educate farmers about their rights and teach them to advocate and negotiate for themselves and their neighbors. Anne Kanten became Minnesota Deputy Commissioner of Agriculture under Governor Rudy Perpich, and Lou Anne Kling became Director of the federal Farm Services Administration under President Bill Clinton.
Breaking Hard Ground is out of print, but copies are available at online booksellers and from the author. Interview transcripts are archived at the Minnesota Historical Society. Check out the interview transcripts.
