Land Stewardship Project

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Fresh Voices

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Interested in hearing directly from the next generation of innovative farmers? Check out the Land Stewardship Project’s Ear to the Ground “Fresh Voices” podcast series. You can read profiles of Farm Beginnings grads here. You can check out all 295 episodes of our Ear to the Ground podcast here.

Ear to the Ground 369: Emerging Agrarians

Ka Zoua Berry says supporting a future generation of farmers who don’t fit the traditional Midwestern stereotype isn’t just about building a resilient farm and food system. It’s also about building resilient communities.

Ear to the Ground 348: Urban Agrarian

Elyssa Eull’s tiny farm is tucked between railroad tracks and an empty lot in the heart of a major metropolitan area, but its city soil is producing food on a commercial scale.

Ear to the Ground 334: Youth Movement

Farm Beginnings grad Marcos Giossi started his food-raising career as a teenager tilling soil on an old soccer field. Now he’s helping young urban farmers utilize a values-based decision making strategy to kick-off better communities.

Ear to the Ground 329: Weather Whiplash

Climate change may impact a vegetable producer and a livestock farmer in different ways, but the result is the same: uncertainty, stress…and a deeper desire to connect with community.

Ear to the Ground 328: Urban Ag Oasis

Farm Beginnings grad Queen Frye just wants to raise food — even if she doesn’t resemble a famous Scottish farmer.

Ear to the Ground 311: Mooching Means More

Humble Hands Harvest’s entry into agroforestry is being supported by its vegetable operation — setting the stage for a new approach to farming a rugged landscape long into the future.

Ear to the Ground 307: Listening to the Knees

Farm Beginnings and Journeyperson taught Melissa Driscoll that true sustainability starts not only with the soil, but the person who’s stewarding it.

Ear to the Ground 306: Tough Choices

How Farm Beginnings helped Hannah Frank and Justin Thomas whittle their enterprise “wish list” down to a sustainable size.

Ear to the Ground 302: Thinking Like a Tree

Beginning farmers Abbie Baldwin and Mitch Hawes are playing the long game when it comes to launching their permaculture operation.

Ear to the Ground 294: Rootless Regeneration 

These beginning farmers are accessing land without owning it — one megawatt at a time.

Ear to the Ground 293: Middle of Somewhere

Carrie Calvo’s 7,000-mile journey to the heart of farming and local food.

Ear to the Ground 280: Maximum vs. Optimal

Adhering to the tenets of Ag Econ 101, a pair of beginning farmers are avoiding commodity row crops and embracing grazing, silvopasturing, and “bale grazed veggies.”

Ear to the Ground 273: Incubating Immigrants

Dawn 2 Dusk’s dedication to helping Africans get established on Minnesota soil.

Ear to the Ground 272: Micro Milk Mentorship

Government regulators may be befuddled by Cella Langer and Emmet Fisher’s tiny dairy, but these Farm Beginnings/Journeyperson grads know exactly where it fits into their business.

Ear to the Ground 265: Diving into Safer Waters

Nettle Valley Farm’s “informed sink or swim” model of incubating the next generation of farmers.

Ear to the Ground 264: Center of the Universe

Pack-shed or people? LSP’s Journeyperson helped vegetable producers Les Macare and Els Dobrick make a big decision about a recent growing season.

Ear to the Ground 263: Public Investment in Public Goods

Anna Racer and Pete Skold have used state and federal “spark plugs” to build a farm enterprise infrastructure that’s good not just for them, but the community as well.

Ear to the Ground 262: A Silvo Secondary Enterprise

Rachel Henderson and Anton Ptak’s secondary enterprise could be a boon for farm country pollinators.

Ear to the Ground 248: Giving a Damn About the Future of Ag

Over the past two decades, LSP’s Farm Beginnings course has developed into a nationally-recognized program for launching the next generation of innovative farmers. Karen Stettler and Amy Bacigalupo talk about how Farm Beginnings got started, the community-centered philosophy it’s based on, and where it’s headed.

Ear to the Ground 247: A Raw Deal on Farmland

Hannah Bernhardt and Jason Misik couldn’t afford prime farmland brimming with infrastructure. But sweat equity and soil health are helping them transform a marginal piece of ground far from Corn Country.

Ear to the Ground 243: Debunking the Land Ownership Myth

How the Sustainable Iowa Land Trust is connecting stewardship-minded landowners with the next generation of regenerative farmers.

Ear to the Ground 241: A Farm Transition Power Team

A desire to continue a legacy (and a love of weed-pulling) eases Foxtail Farm into the hands of the next generation.

Ear to the Ground 227: From Crisis to Community

When a CAFO threatened a rural neighborhood, residents looked to a beginning farmer for a different vision of the future.

Ear to the Ground 170: Constructive Criticism

How a Farm Beginnings field day makes everyone a “consultant.”

Ear to the Ground 78: Diving in from a Distance

A young couple launches a farming enterprise from afar.

Contact

Brian DeVore, e-mail, 612-816-9342

Upcoming Events

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May 2025

Thursday May 15

5:30 pm – 7:30 pm
MN Women in Conservation
Thursday May 15
5:30 pm – 7:30 pm
MN Women in Conservation
42652 County Rd 7, Belview, MN 56214, USA

NOTE: REGISTRATION IS CLOSED FOR THIS EVENT
 
Come out and play with MNWiC and Renville County Soil and Water Conservation District. Tour Iverson Tree Farm, learn from other women land stewards, and meet local Master Gardeners and conservation professionals who can help with your own land dreams.
 
For details and to register, click here.
 
 

Saturday May 17

11:00 am – 5:00 pm
Community Plant & Seed Swap
Saturday May 17
11:00 am – 5:00 pm
Community Plant & Seed Swap
Lift Bridge Brewing, 1900 Tower Dr W, Stillwater, MN 55082, USA

Lift Bridge Brewing Co. and Sustainable Farming Association are partnering to host a free seed and plant swap and fundraiser at Lift Bridge’s taproom in Stillwater. Vendor opportunities available. 
 
Details here.

Tuesday May 20

7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Webinar on Agrivoltaics: Sheep Solar Grazing Producer Panel
Tuesday May 20
7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Webinar on Agrivoltaics: Sheep Solar Grazing Producer Panel
Zoom Virtual

Participants will hear from sheep producers about their experiences, along with the benefits and challenges of grazing sheep under solar panels. This webinar is part of a series about cattle and sheep solar grazing and growing forages or grain crops under solar panels.
 
For details and to register, click here.

Thursday May 29

9:00 am – 12:30 pm
Storytelling for Sales: Digital Marketing for Sustainable Farmers
Thursday May 29
9:00 am – 12:30 pm
Storytelling for Sales: Digital Marketing for Sustainable Farmers
Zoom Online

Storytelling for Sales: Digital Marketing Best Practices to Get Your Farm’s Next Customer is designed to help farmers grow their customer base by sharpening their storytelling and digital marketing skills—whether they’re selling through farmers’ markets, CSAs, or direct-to-retail. This Greener Pastures and Meet the Minnesota Makers workshop will cover how websites and social media can actually convert viewers into buyers to creating content that builds community loyalty.

This workshop is also designed for ag educators, professionals, and partner organizational staff who support farmers directly and want to be well-versed on the marketing best practices to support direct-to-consumer farms. 

For details and to register, click here.

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.

View Full Calendar

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