Blog

Quick Wits, Grit, Guns ‘N Roses

Lou Anne Kling’s Legacy of Saved Farms & Saved Lives One day several years ago, western Minnesota farmer Lou Anne Kling was helping a financially-distressed chicken producer who was at risk of losing his operation. This was sometime in the 1980s or 1990s, and Kling had already spent countless hours on the telephone, in the…  Read More

MN Lawmakers Need to Stop Healthcare Malpractice

During 2017, the Minnesota Legislature took these steps on healthcare: Insurance companies received a $549 million cushion against losses associated with the small number of patients with costly claims. This was meant as an inducement to keep these companies in the marketplace. A proposal to allow people in this same individual market to buy into…  Read More

A Paradigm Shift is Needed

The Land Stewardship Project board of directors has recently adopted a statement on climate change to help guide the organization as we move forward. As a member of LSP’s board, I am glad we have developed this statement, which can be seen here. This work and some changes in my family’s life—we recently moved to…  Read More

Attend your Caucus to Move LSP’s Vision & Values Forward

Have you been to your local precinct caucus? Maybe you always go, or you help lead your local caucus. Or maybe you have never been to caucuses before and don’t know what to expect. Whether this is your first time or you’ve been going for years, we’re encouraging all Land Stewardship Project members to go…  Read More

Farm Transitions Profile: Odd Acres of Opportunity

Sometimes a Farm Transition is Done at a Distance On a brilliantly bright October afternoon, Chris Mosel makes his way over a clear-running brook and through a stand of basswood, oak and maple on his central Minnesota farm. As he approaches the edge of the woodlot, he steps over a strand of temporarily erected electric…  Read More

Trying Times Call for Building Soil Health

On a fall day just south of West Union in northeastern Iowa, Loran and Brenda Steinlage’s harvested field borders two sides of the local USDA Natural Resources Conservation office. With the green foliage of cover crops peeking through a thick mat of corn residue, their field provides a beautiful example of soil conservation amidst a…  Read More

Our Minnesota Future: Building Governing Power to Advance LSP Values

When you think about your community and Minnesota as a whole, what issues stand out as most needing to be addressed? When you allow yourself to step back and dream big, what do you hope for? At a time marked by extreme division, animosity and the feeling that nothing is getting done on the major…  Read More

LSP to Medica: ‘We are watching and ready to hold you accountable.’

NOTE: Today, the Land Stewardship Project joined allies TakeAction Minnesota, ISAIAH, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the Minnesota Nurses Association to confront Medica officials at their Minnetonka, Minn., headquarters. The HMO has put profit before people and transferred $120 million from its nonprofit Minnesota HMO to its for-profit Wisconsin insurance businesses. Below is…  Read More

Joe Morse: A Champion of the People & the Land

The Land Stewardship Project is mourning the passing of Joe Morse of Winona, Minn., a long-time LSP leader and champion of social justice. We valued Joe greatly, fully appreciating the chance to work with him on our efforts to challenge excessive corporate power and expose corruption of the powerful. His assistance in strategizing and organizing…  Read More

Digging into a Soil Health Test

A streak of creativity brightens the landscape when farmers join forces with scientists to investigate “the standard” of what we thought we already knew. Take, for example, the fresh look at how soil functions—collectively called soil health—that has been the talk of Land Stewardship Project workshops and field days the past five years or so.…  Read More