A Republican and a DFLer in the Minnesota Senate have finally found common ground: Soil.
Republican Gen Olson and DFLer Patricia Torres Ray today filed SF2254, designating Lester as the official state soil.
Can you have a state soil if it’s only found in a small part of the state?
The Minnesota Association of Professional Soil Scientists has already declared Lester the state soil.
The Natural Resources and Conservation Service describes Lester:
The Lester Series consists of very deep, well drained soils that formed in loamy, calcareous glacial till, on ground moraines. Slopes range from 5 to 70 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 28 inches and mean annual soil temperature is about 49 degrees.
These soils formed under wooded vegetation that has been removed in many areas for agricultural production. Where used for crops, corn and soybeans are the principal ones. Corn yields range from 139 to 187 bushels/acre and soybeans from 42 to 55 bushels/acre, depending on percent slope and climate in Major Land Resource Area 103.
Lester soils are of moderate extent, occurring in 75 map units in 17 counties in south-central Minnesota. Total acres are over 600,000.
At least they didn’t try to make frac sand the official soil.