It’s field day time on this western Minnesota farm, and it’s made clear from the outset that there will no main presenter, no expert from on-high telling it like it is or isn’t, no PowerPoints produced by consultants. This is a field day where farmers learn from other farmers. “You are all consultants,” Richard Ness… Read More →
Beginning dairy farmer Carrie Redden talks about how she sees successful land stewardship and successful farming as deeply intertwined, and why more non-farmers need to make that connection as well. Carrie Redden was interviewed as part of the We Are Water initiative, which documented the stories of several farmers in the upper reaches of the… Read More →
Owl Bluff Farm is tucked away in one of those Driftless Area coulees where cellular signals go to die. In fact, when contractors were constructing a building there recently, they sometimes climbed half-way up an abandoned silo on the farm to use their phones. It has a sense of being an isolated, if beautiful, little… Read More →
Soil, cows, ecology, economics: to milk producer Derek Schmitz, they are all linked, and that feeds his optimism even as tough times cast a shadow over dairy farming. More Information • LSP’s Grazing & Soil Health Web Page • Soil Health Academy Case Study: Derek & Taylor Schmitz • Regenerative Livestock Systems Symposium: April 5, 2024 You can… Read More →
The frac sand industry is pushing to roll back a law we won in 2013 that requires the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to create rules to control air pollution from frac sand facilities. LSP has documented that the frac sand industry routinely puts profit before respect for rules designed to protect neighbors’ health and the… Read More →
Driftless Grazing School: June 28-29 Dates/Times: Day 1: Friday, June 28, 2024, 8:00 AM – 4:30 PM Day 2: Saturday, June 29, 2024, 8:00 AM – 4:30 PM Location: 18769 Eagle Heights Rd Caledonia, MN 55921 (same location both days) Join us for a two-day Grazing School in the rolling Driftless Region of Southeastern Minnesota!… Read More →
Carrie Calvo’s 7,000-mile journey to the heart of farming and local food. More Information • LSP’s Farm Beginnings Course • Farm Beginnings in other Regions: the Farm Beginnings Collaborative • Land Stewardship Letter article on Owl Bluff Farm • Fresh Voices: the Ear to the Ground podcast series on beginning farmers You can find LSP Ear… Read More →
Land Stewardship Project members believe that the kind of agricultural system and democracy we have is up to us. Our members are the experts when it comes to their communities and farms and, together, we can and must make regenerative agriculture the norm, rather than the exception. We believe our public institutions exist to serve the… Read More →
Mapping a rural region’s “community food assets” reveals isolated islands of opportunity in a sea of corn and soybeans. LSP’s Scott DeMuth says now is the time to connect the dots and create a new relationship between farmers, eaters, and the places they live in. “You know, when I talk about rural economic development, from… Read More →
During the recently concluded session of the Minnesota Legislature, Land Stewardship Project members and partners worked to win record investments in sustainable and regenerative agriculture, small and mid-sized farmers, and rural communities after decades of underfunding. We won a MinnesotaCare Public Option, as well as historic investments in the Emerging Farmers Office at the Minnesota… Read More →
