A county road project threatened Hmong farmers' fields. Then the Legislature stepped in.

Judy Yang spent her Monday weeding, watering and preparing to plant broccoli, cabbage, sweet corn and other crops in rural Dakota County, where she's part of a Hmong farmers collective.

Until recently, the county had proposed condemning up to 20 acres of that farmland for a new highway exchange. That could have eliminated the plots of several of the Hmong American Farmers Association's small-scale farmers, who make up more than half the growers at Twin Cities farmers markets.

The Legislature stepped in, including language in the 2023 bonding bill that will keep the government from ever taking HAFA's 155 acres of land without their consent. The county said it had already decided the project to rebuild the interchange at Hwy. 52 and County Road 66 was too expensive, but the new law provides another safeguard.

"I'm glad they [did] not take our land," Yang said, looking out from under a wide-brimmed hat.

The association's farm, a membership-based nonprofit organization, provides the Hmong Americans who farm there predictable access to undeveloped land in the metro area each year.

Farmers, who sublease the land, must cultivate at least five acres but not more than 10, association executive director Janssen Hang said. There are 25 five-acre plots farmed by more than 100 people using sustainable methods.

"We're not just working with the farmers ... we're working with their extended families as well," he said.

The association began leasing its current property in 2013. In 2020, the state included $2 million in a bonding bill so it could buy the land. The purchase was completed in September 2022, Hang said.

Rep. Fue Lee, DFL-Minneapolis, authored the legislation that prohibits a city, county or the state from taking or condemning the land without the farmer association's permission, though it still allows for the association to negotiate with the state or local government on a future road project.

Lee said the farmers didn't understand why the state would commit to giving them money to buy land and then take some of it away.

"I just don't think that's right," Lee said.

Lee, a Hmong American who recalled having to travel outside the metro area to farm with his family growing up, said it's "crucial and necessary" that immigrants have access to farmland.

The association scored another win this legislative session — the farm will also receive $2 million from the transportation bill for a box culvert under Hwy. 52, which bisects the land. That will allow safer access for farm equipment to both sides of the farm.

Ariel Xiong started out as a packing assistant at the farm and worked her way up to her current job as food hub director. She said farmers and staff fought hard to keep their land.

It's a busy week on the farm, Xiong said, with farmers delivering the summer's first CSA (community-supported agriculture) boxes to customers, filled with fresh fruit, vegetables and flowers.

Farmers are also planting onions, tomatoes, potatoes, melons, raspberries and zucchini for a summer harvest, and garlic, potatoes and herbs for the fall.

Farm manager Dao Yang drove up to a large, corrugated metal barn on a red tractor Monday afternoon. The tractor was hooked up to a plastic mulch layer, which rolls out plastic that protects crops from weeds and helps the soil retain moisture.

He likes his job, he said, because he gets to make "meaningful changes" to help farmers. "And I get to play in the dirt as well," he said.