On sweltering summer days Mike Zakrzewski’s cows neatly line themselves up by the hundreds in their pastures.
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Wind turbines loom over a pivot in Antelope County. Much focus, both in Nebraska and across the Midwest, has been on Chinese ownership of American farmland. Nebraska law prohibits the foreign ownership of land, but has exceptions and legal loopholes, some of them untested, for things like long-term wind farm leases, many tied to Canada.
Jerry L. Mennenga, Flatwater Free Press
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Three curious cows pose in front of a wind turbine in Antelope County. While Chinese companies own massive ag companies like Syngenta, they own precious little farmland in Nebraska, where foreign ownership of ag land is banned. However, there are exceptions and legal loopholes that seemingly allow long-term leases on things like wind farms on ag land. Those wind farms are often tied to Canadian companies.
Jerry L. Mennenga, Flatwater Free Press
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Cattle graze on harvested corn stalks in front of wind turbines turning in Antelope County. The northeast Nebraska wind farm projects are massive – and often tied to foreign investment – but farmers and other landowners continue to own the land and use it for agriculture.
Jerry L. Mennenga, Flatwater Free Press
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Rivoli Theater in Seward, Nebraska is raising $50,000 for new projector.
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