We at the Land Stewardship Project have a strong vision for rural Minnesota where our communities are vibrant, our soil and water healthy and our local economies are strong. Our vision for people and the land can’t happen without bold policies and a real investment of our public dollars.
Our state leaders are not embracing our vision for a new agricultural economy. We need you to take action today and amplify your voice.
Click here to take action.
LSP members like you know that, to have healthy land and healthy rural communities, we need a thriving family farm system and strong local foods economies across the state that create ample opportunities for family farmers.
As you may know, LSP recently launched a local foods initiative. Through that initiative, LSP members identified investing in a statewide Farm to School system as a powerful first step in building these healthy local foods systems. LSP has joined a large group of stakeholders with a long history of working on and advocating for Farm to School in Minnesota. Our Farm to School bill is a direct investment in family farmers and an investment in our kids’ health and future.
LSP members on the State Policy Steering Committee are focusing on another important issue this legislative session: securing full funding for the Forever Green Initiative, a program at the University of Minnesota that does cutting-edge research to develop and market profitable cover crops and perennials. These crops are already being grown in Minnesota and being rotated into corn and soybean fields to build soil health, prevent erosion, and clean our water.
Both Farm to School and Forever Green are common-sense solutions for building community food systems and creating a sustainable agricultural system, yet neither will happen unless we take action together.
We need the support of our top state legislative leaders—Speaker of the House Melissa Hortman and Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka—as well as Governor Tim Walz. They need to hear from you.