"Cave Farmer" Breaks New Ground

"Cave Farmer" Breaks New Ground AG WORLD 28-1-21 Most people buy a farm for what's on the surface. John Ackerman bought a farm for what was underneath - caves. Ackerman's "cave farm" is called Minnesota Caverns and is located near Spring Valley, Minn. Natural drains or sinkholes pockmark his farm and others in the region. These depressions, some of which can be quite large, can lead to caves like Ackerman's. "I have proven that if you excavate a sinkhole, you will find a cave or a passage leading to a cave," he explains. Ackerman uses a modified tracked excavator with an extra long arm to reach into and remove the silt that has filled many of the sinkholes on his 325-acre farm. Since buying the first part of his cave farm in the early 1990's, he has discovered or expanded 19 caves on the farm. More than 6 miles of caverns and passages honeycomb the subsurface world of the farm. Ackerman doesn't plan to commercialize his caves. All entrances have been gated off. He explains that his farm's distance from a large metropolitan area would make cave tourism a difficult proposition. A previous owner, who first discovered a cave on the farm while searching for a lost calf, tried to commercialize it and went bankrupt. In addition, insurance is hard to get and extremely expensive. The lifelong caver does open his doors to area nature centers and youth groups interested in geology and the environment. Local farmers watching Ackerman excavate have been amazed at what they have seen as sinkholes formerly used as garbage pits are shown to drain directly into ground water and nearby wells. "Neighbors coming over to see a sinkhole being opened up to a major passageway had no idea something of that significance lay under the sinkhole," says Ackerman. "It has had a very large impact on folks who used to dump garbage into them." With similar topography underlying major parts of the United States, there are plenty of caves yet to be found. If a landowner thinks he has a cave system on his property, Ackerman suggests contacting the National Speleological Society (NSS), an organization of people dedicated to exploring and protecting caves. Having had more than his share of near death experiences, he stresses that cave exploration is extremely dangerous. Exploration, he says, should only be done by or in the company of experienced cavers. Landowners with caves on their property also need to be aware that some states, such as Minnesota, leave them liable for subsurface accidents. "I had a law firm draw up a fairly lengthy form that releases landowners from liability in case I do something stupid on their property," says Ackerman. Cave discovery, he says, also brings with it cave protection responsibility. He points out that state laws vary on cave protection. Wisconsin has strict laws on cave vandalism while Minnesota has none. "Unfortunately, commercialization is often the only way to protect caves," he says. Contact FARM SHOW Followup, John Ackerman, 26455 Galaxie Ave., Farmington, Minn. 55024 or the National Speleolgical Society (ph 256 852-1300; email: nss@caves; website: www.caves.org).

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