Land Stewardship Project

Land Stewardship Project
  • About Us
    • Our Mission
    • Long Range Plan
    • Staff Directory
    • Board of Directors
      • LSP Board Committees
    • LSP Steering Committees & Working Groups
    • Contact Us
    • Past LSP Projects
    • Employment & Volunteer Opportunities
    • LSP Publications
    • Financial Statements
  • The Latest
    • Community Care
    • Songs for the Soil
    • CSA Farm Directory
    • Upcoming Events
    • News
      • News Releases
      • Media Contacts
      • LSP in the News
    • Blog
    • Podcast
    • Land Stewardship Letter
    • LIVE-WIRE Sign-up
    • Myth Busters
    • Fact Sheets
    • Farm Crisis Resources
  • For Farmers & Landowners
    • Farmland Clearinghouse
    • New Farmers
      • Farm Beginnings Class
      • Journeyperson Course
      • Farm Dreams
      • Accessing Farmland
      • Farmland Clearinghouse
      • Beginning/Retiring Farmer Tax Credit
      • Beginning Farmer Profiles
    • Retiring Farmers & Landowners
      • Farmland Clearinghouse
      • Farm Transition Planning Course
      • Conservation Leases
      • Beginning/Retiring Farmer Tax Credit
      • Land Transition Tools
      • Transition Stories
    • Soil Health
      • Cover Crops
      • Grazing
      • No-till
      • Microbiology
      • Soil Builders’ Network
      • Soil Builders’ E-Letters
      • Soil Health Steering Committee Members
    • Cropping Systems Calculator
    • Conservation Leases
  • Creating Change
    • Community-Based Food Systems
      • Ear Bites
    • Policy Campaigns
      • Soil Health & Climate Change
      • Healthcare
      • Factory Farms
        • Anti-Competitiveness & Price Gouging
        • LSP Powerline Story Center
      • Federal Policy
        • A Farm Bill For Us
      • State Policy
        • MN Farm, Food & Climate Funding
      • Developing Leadership
    • Justice & Stewardship
    • Organizational Stewardship
    • Building People Power
  • Get Involved
    • Take Action!
    • Upcoming Events
    • Land Stewardship Action Fund
    • Connect with LSP
      • Stay Connected
      • Join, Donate, or Renew Today!
      • Shop
      • Employment & Volunteer Opportunities
      • Legacy Giving
    • Network with LSP Members
      • Farmland Clearinghouse
      • Soil Health
    • Farmland Clearinghouse
  • Join, Donate, or Renew Today!
  • Stay Connected
  • Contact Us
  • Shop
Search
More...

2022 Minnesota Legislative Session Wrap-up — Maybe?

More Undone than Done, but Some Key Wins LSP is Eager to Build on

By Amanda Koehler
May 25, 2022

Share

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • email
During an LSP virtual town hall meeting, Member Christina Traeger, owner of Rolling Hills Traeger Ranch and Grillin Meats, secured Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s support for investments in local meat processing.
LSP member Liz Dwyer, a livestock and CSA farmer, testifying in a Senate hearing about the urgent need for drought relief for specialty crop farmers.

The 2022 Minnesota legislative session held incredible promise in the form of a historic budget surplus that had the opportunity to deliver tangible progress on the biggest challenges we face. For example, the Minnesota House Climate Action Caucus, chaired by Rep. Patty Acomb (DFL-Minnetonka), began the session with a bang, proposing a $1 billion investment in climate solutions, including $100 million for agriculture.

Unfortunately, the end of this legislative session left more undone than done. In numerous budget areas, members of the Senate Majority refused to negotiate or delayed so much that an agreement came too late. Luckily, one of the few omnibus bills that crossed the finish line was the budget for the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA). Bills that included funding for the Board of Water and Soil Resources, Soil and Water Conservation Districts, and the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program did not make it across the finish line in time.

We are hoping the Legislature will come back together to do its job and deliver the funding people and the land need and deserve. However, Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller has made it clear that the Senate Republican Caucus has no interest in doing so.

It’s not too late to demand that lawmakers come back to the table. You can take just two minutes to contact Senator Miller here.

What was on the table
and what passed?

Governor Tim Walz and the House of Representatives originally proposed robust budgets for the MDA of over $70 million and $60 million, respectively. The Senate, however, spent most of the historic budget surplus on tax cuts that would mostly benefit the rich, leaving just $5 million for their agriculture budget bill.

Door-hangers with LSP policy priorities and the LSP soil health cost-share petition were distributed to each Legislator in the final week of the legislative session.

Land Stewardship Project members and supporters worked hard to push Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller (R–Winona) to agree to a budget for the MDA that was closer to the size of the House proposal. Dozens of LSP members who are Sen. Miller’s constituents attended a virtual in-district meeting, wrote letters-to-the-editor, and were featured in local newspaper advertisements, — yet he prioritized tax cuts that would primarily benefit the rich and set the joint agriculture budget at just $15 million.

Although Senate leadership squandered an opportunity to fully meet the needs of farmers, our food system, and rural communities in the agriculture budget (and by failing to pass other budget bills), the final agriculture proposal did include some key funding that we are eager to build upon in 2023.

Key wins in the agriculture budget include $500,000 for soil health grants for farmers, directing the state to create a soil health action plan, and notable investment for livestock processing grants and education.

 

Below is what was proposed and what eventually passed for the 2022-2023 and 2024-2025 fiscal years:

Newspaper ad featuring LSP member and dairy farmer Bonnie Haugen urging Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller to pass a robust ag budget.

Summary

We’re facing compounding challenges that Land Stewardship Project members have testified to, written letters-to-the-editor on, met with their Legislators about, and took actions around: the climate crisis and extreme weather, consolidation in the meat supply chain, skyrocketing land costs, barriers to processing and markets for emerging crops, and more. What is clear is that the Governor and the House Majority, overall, proposed strong budgets for people and the land, while the Senate dismissed these real challenges threatening their communities to prioritize tax cuts for folks who don’t need them. And then they decided to not finish the job by leaving several budget bills on the table.

The Speaker of the Minnesota House, Representative Melissa Hortman (DFL–Brooklyn Park), and Gov. Walz are ready and willing to come back to the table to finish what was left undone. Senate Majority Leader Miller said the Senate Republican Caucus was not interested in a special legislative session and House Minority Kurt Daudt (GOP– Crown) said he wants to “sleep on it” for seven months.

Additionally, the legislative process has become increasingly opaque over time. Individual legislators were largely not in the loop during end-of-session negotiations unless they were committee chairs, making constituent and organizational engagement even more difficult. Numerous members of the Senate Majority also refused to meet with LSP members who are their constituents, despite repeated requests.

They also cobbled together massive omnibus bills with multiple agency budgets in each. If one part of the budget was agreed upon, but others weren’t, they didn’t pass any of it. We strongly believe that leadership from both parties and each body must make a commitment to transparent and public lawmaking and negotiating. Our democracy should be accessible, responsive, and effective.

Regardless of if the Legislature comes back together to finish the job, LSP will be working to create a holistic, member-developed state policy platform to aggressively organize around. We’re ready to get to work to make sure 2023 has a very different result than the 2022 legislative session. In addition, we’re planning on bringing back the Family Farm Breakfast and Day at the Capitol – stay tuned!

More Information

  • Governor Walz’s Supplemental Budget Proposal 
  • Legislative Spreadsheet that Shows House & Senate Final Proposals for Ag & Drought Relief
  • Final Ag & Drought Relief Bill

LSP policy manager Amanda Koehler can be reached via e-mail or at 612-400-6355.

LSP virtual town hall with Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller.
Category: Blog
Tags: 100% Soil Healthy Campaign • drought relief • emerging farmers • local meat processing • Minnesota Legislature • regional food systems • soil health

Upcoming Events

×

May 2025

Saturday May 31

10:00 am – 12:30 pm
Multi-species Pasture Walk
Saturday May 31
10:00 am – 12:30 pm
Multi-species Pasture Walk
872 320th Ave, Frederic, WI 54837, USA

The NW Wisconsin Graziers Network, River Country RC&Dand UW-Madison Extension invite you to a multi-species pasture walk hosted by JohnsonFamily Pastures LLC. The farm is located five miles east of Frederic in PolkCounty. This educational event willemphasize direct marketing, multi-species grazing, part-time family agricultureand silvopasture development. Light snacks and refreshments will be provided.

TheJohnson Family Pastures farm is home to Chris and Tamara Johnson and their twochildren. They raise grass-fed beef, silvopastured goats, and recently raised anumber of other species. The farm consists of about 160 acres of gently rollingpastures, silvopasture, and forest. Use of both temporary polybraid fencing andhigh tensile permanent fences allow for rotational grazing of small ruminants andout-wintering of beef cattle. Use of long-term farm transition strategies, cost-shareprograms, silvopasture development with goats, regenerative grazing, cattlehandling facility and bale grazing will be discussed along with answering anyand all questions from pasture walk participants.

An extensive and diversified direct marketing programhas been developed by Tamara and Chris that has included farmer markets, e-maillists, newsletters, website ordering, on-farm freezer storage, and other strategiesand tools to support direct sales and services for their customers.  Come and learn all about their successfulapproach.

For more information,contact Chris Johnson at 920-960-4475 or Lynn Johnson 715-225-9882 at NW Graziers.

June 2025

Saturday June 21

1:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Farm-Scale Deep Winter Greenhouse Tour
Saturday June 21
1:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Farm-Scale Deep Winter Greenhouse Tour
Owl Bluff Farm, 12314 County Road 4 Houston, MN 55943

The University of Minnesota Extension Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships (RSDP) and Owl Bluff Farm will co-host an open house to celebrate the completion of the state’s first farm-scale deep winter greenhouse. The event, held on the farm about 45 minutes east of Rochester, is free and open to the public. RSVPs are required at z.umn.edu/OwlBluffOpenHouse.

Wednesday June 25

2:00 pm – 5:00 pm
LSP-PFI Grazing Field Day at Hoosier Ridge Ranch
Wednesday June 25
2:00 pm – 5:00 pm
LSP-PFI Grazing Field Day at Hoosier Ridge Ranch
Hoosier Ridge Ranch, 15998 Wabasha County Rd 26, Altura, MN 55910, USA

Over the last 50 years, livestock have left many farms. Eric Heins is doing the reverse: bringing cattle – and their poop, pee and hooves – back to his land. Come see how Eric is using his Normande-shorthorn crosses in a variety of grazing situations. During this Land Stewardship Project-Practical Farmers of Iowa field day, you can view permanent pasture, where Eric (like everyone) is battling the cool-season grass takeover. You’ll also learn how Eric is using his cattle in cover crop mixes, prairie and woodlands.

Since purchasing the farm in 2020, Eric has converted the cropland to pasture. He also custom-farms a diverse rotation of crops, covers and small grains on neighboring farms, including an established prairie on Iowa Department of Natural Resources land. A possible bonus: Eric is hoping to have virtual fence collars by the time of the field day, but no guarantees!

A meal featuring Hoosier Ridge Ranch burgers will follow the field day.

See & Discuss

  • Cash-flowing the conversion to pasture on owned versus rented cropland
  • Stockpiling pasture for winter grazing
  • Mechanical buckthorn clearing for silvopasture
  • Grazing agreements on DNR prairie and neighboring cropland
  • A sudangrass mix after a canning pea crop
  • An extended rotation with oats, barley and Kernza

For details and to register, click here.

Saturday June 28

4:00 pm – 8:00 pm
LSP's Boots & Roots: A Celebration of Land & People
Saturday June 28
4:00 pm – 8:00 pm
LSP's Boots & Roots: A Celebration of Land & People
Dream Acres, Co Hwy 8, Spring Valley, MN 55975, USA

Join Land Stewardship Project members and supporters to kick-start the Driftless summer with an evening of good food, good music, and good times. We’ll have activities for all ages that will get you out in nature, exploring the connection between our region’s farms and your community’s food, land, and water. Bring a side or dessert to share for dinner, and the Dream Acres wood-fired oven will provide locally-sourced pizzas and flat breads. Dinner will be followed by live music and contra dancing by the Crater City String Band.  

To reserve a spot, click here.

Camping sites are available at nearby Masonic Park and Forestville Mystery Cave and Lake Louise State Parks. Camping at Masonic is rustic,first-come-first-serve, free, and does not require a reservation. Fillmore County, who manages the park, only asks that you call the dispatchers at507-765-3874 when you arrive with your vehicle information and phone number in case of emergency. State Park reservations cost $25 a night and can be made online.

July 2025

Tuesday July 15

5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Organic Fruit & Vegetable Field Day
Tuesday July 15
5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Organic Fruit & Vegetable Field Day
1805 Dudley Ave, Falcon Heights, MN 55113, USA

Join U of M researchers and Extension for updates on organic fruit and vegetable research and tour the Student Organic Farm and the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station in Saint Paul. Topics include: organic insect management, integrating livestock into vegetable farms, new crops for Minnesota, irrigation strategies, and more. Free to the public.
 
For details and to register, click here.

View Full Calendar

Recent Posts

  • Rolling Out the Welcome Mat for New Neighbors May 30, 2025
  • Land Line: Modern Dust Bowl, Corporate Indifference, Farmers’ Market Stores, Soybean Giant, SNAP & Local Foods, Carbon Markets, Farm Economy’s Twin Tale May 28, 2025
  • MN Ag Bill Supports Market Access, Land Access & Soil Health  May 21, 2025
  • Legislative Wrap-Up: A Chaotic Session  Produces Concrete Results May 20, 2025
  • Alan Perish’s Passion for Local Democracy May 19, 2025

Montevideo

111 North First Street
Montevideo, MN 56265

(320) 269-2105

Lewiston

180 E. Main Street
Lewiston, MN 55952

(507) 523-3366

Minneapolis

821 E. 35th Street #200
Minneapolis, MN 55407

(612) 722-6377

  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2025 Land Stewardship Project. All rights reserved.

https://landstewardshipproject.org/2022-minnesota-legislative-session-wrap-up-maybe