A 153-Year-Old Bridge Comes Home, and Farmers Carry $624 Billion in Debt

Behind Mike Lagerquist and Becki True, a crane is holding a 153-year-old iron truss bridge over the Blue Earth River in Mankato. It is the Kern Bridge, known for most of its life as the Yaeger Bridge. Six years ago it was taken apart five miles south of Mankato, where it crossed the Le Sueur River, and put in storage while a committee decided where it should go. It now links Land of Memories Park and Sibley Park, two parks a hundred yards apart that until now you could only reach by highway.

Becki grew up near the bridge south of Mankato. It couldn't take the weight of a school bus, so hers turned around in the driveway. Her father and his friends, in high school in the late 1950s, used to drive at the approach ramp as fast as they could to see how far onto the wooden deck they could land.

Then they turn to this fall. In our Get Election Ready series, they make the case for making a plan now and voting early in person, because the rules on mail-in ballots are still unsettled 65 days before the midterms. Check your registration through the Minnesota Secretary of State, your county, or vote.org.

Last, they look at what tariffs and other pressure are doing to farmers:

• $624 billion in farm debt nationally, according to a USDA report
• Operating debt over 13 percent, so 13 cents of every dollar goes to interest before seed, fertilizer or fuel
• Imported beef undercutting the same producers that the Argentina soybean deal undercut last year
• About 30 percent of farm income now coming from the federal government
• Farmer suicide at an all-time high

They ask you to call your representative. In this area that is Brad Finstad, at his Washington or New Ulm office. As Luke Frederick told them, the fastest way to reach a desk is a personal story, so bring the facts but lead with someone you know who has been affected.

Contact your representative: find your member of Congress or Rep. Brad Finstad's office. Check your registration with the Minnesota Secretary of State or Vote.org. Read the USDA report.

If you or someone you know is struggling, the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is free and confidential, 24 hours a day. Call or text 988. The Farm Aid hotline is 1-800-327-6243.

Two shorter clips from this video are also on our channel: 65 Days to the Midterms, and Mail-In Ballots Are Still an Open Question and Washington Now Pays 30% of Farm Income, and Farmers Are Still Behind.

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