Researchers Say Farmers Want to Grow More than Corn and Soybeans. A New Report has Some Ideas

(7/27/26) Iowa Public Radio describes a report that identifies challenges to agricultural diversification in the Corn Belt and policy changes that could make it easier to grow different crops or integrate livestock and trees onto farmland. Highlights:

• The report is an initiative of the Diverse Corn Belt Project, which is funded by the USDA and involves 10 universities, Practical Farmers of Iowa, and The Nature Conservancy.The findings build on previous focus groups, interviews and surveys with farmers across Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana, where 94% of crop production is dedicated to corn and soybeans. As part of the research, meetings were held in each state over three years with farmers, landowners, agriculture retailers, crop advisers, nonprofits, bankers, agency staff, processors, and policymakers.
• Farmers identified diversification as a way to achieve economic and ecological resiliency in rural communities, but felt there were major barriers to stepping out of the corn-soybean system. Crop insurance, other federal ag subsidy programs, and lack of post-harvest infrastructure and markets for alternative farm products were identified as barriers. Additional constraints raised by participants in the study were a lack of researchers who focus on forages and small grains.
• The report makes several recommendations for smoothing the transition to diversified production systems, including piloting a “diversified rotation initiative” under the USDA’s Environmental Quality Incentives Program to encourage multi-year crop rotations that incorporate small grains, legumes, and perennial forages.

Check out LSP’s Small Grains web page for resources on diversifying the corn-soybean rotation with crops such as oats.

•  The EPA set a threshold for nitrates in drinking water more than 30 years ago at a level designed to avoid harming babies after research showed that ingesting nitrates could trigger dangerously low oxygen in babies’ blood, what’s known as “blue baby syndrome.” The EPA announced it would re-assess nitrates — and nitrites — in 2017 to look at other potential health impacts, including cancer, but the work was suspended in 2019 by the first Trump administration.
• The Biden administration re-started the work, and the EPA accepted public comments on the planned assessment in 2023, but the agency hasn’t provided an update since. Earlier this year, the Trump administration eliminated the EPA’s Office of Research and Development, which housed the Integrated Risk Information System and was responsible for such health assessments.
• Independent research has significantly advanced since the EPA set its drinking water threshold for nitrates in 1991. Nitrate pollution in waterways has been tied to heavy use of nitrogen-based fertilizers and the spreading of large amounts of livestock manure on farm fields. Nitrate contamination has been linked to cancer and other health problems, particularly in prominent farm states. The current EPA nitrate threshold for nitrates under the Safe Drinking Water Act is 10 parts per million — a level that some researchers and health advocates say is far too high to protect health. Studies have linked nitrate exposure below 10 parts per million to increased risk of colorectal cancer, bladder cancer, thyroid disease, and other health problems.
• The stalled assessment comes as nitrate pollution becomes more pervasive: an April report from the Environmental Working Group found more than 60 million Americans get their water from sources contaminated with elevated levels of nitrate pollution.

LSP recently launched a “Rethinking Nitrogen”campaign to build a farmer-led, public movement to show the power of nitrogen-reducing practices and create the political momentum needed to pass strong nutrient reduction policies during Minnesota’s 2027 legislative session. Check out our blog, “Rocket Surgery, Farming & Water,” for a report on how a group of farmers in Iowa is attempting to address nitrate pollution problems on their own operations as well as in the wider region.

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A Minnesota Dairy Company’s Rapid Expansion Is Prompting Lawsuits Against Regulators

(8/7/26) Inside Climate News describes how the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) is being sued over its recent failure to order an environmental impact statement (EIS) for Riverview’s proposed West River Dairy expansion near Morris, Minn. If built, the 18,855-cow facility would be the largest factory farm in the state — more than 60 times the size of the average Minnesota dairy — producing over 200 million gallons of waste annually. Highlights:

• The lawsuit, which was filed by the Land Stewardship Project and Food & Water Watch, challenges the MPCA’s decision not to order an EIS despite the “potential effects on the climate, water quantity, water quality, and rural communities” that “are not just possible, but likely.”
• Riverview, which is based in Morris, is the second-largest producer of milk and milk products in the United States, and has been on the march in recent years, building and enlarging its facilities around the country, especially in its home and neighboring states.
• Residents and environmental groups say the company’s massive facilities have started to overwhelm small rural communities, threatening them with air and water pollution, largely from the enormous amount of manure produced by dairy cows. They also argue that regulators are undercounting and under-regulating greenhouse gas emissions from Riverview’s operations. Cows housed at the West River facility are projected to produce at least 200 million gallons of effluent and manure, which would be spread on nearby fields, potentially adding to the state’s growing drinking-water problems.
• Calculations by the Bullvine website earlier this year showed that an expanded West River facility would flood the market with so much milk that it would cost a typical 500-cow dairy $57,600–$86,400 per year in lost revenue.
• “The impact is on water usage, water pollution. It’s the climate impact,” Sean Carroll, LSP’s policy director, told Inside Climate News. “But it is also the systems-change that that creates. … It’s driving out small and mid-sized farms and sustainable farming systems that then has multiplier effects for rural economies.”

On Tuesday, Sept. 1, the Stevens County Board of Commissioners will make a final decision on whether the West River Dairy proposal gets a green light. For details on how you can join LSP’s Digital Dairy Action Network and get involved in the organization’s next steps on this fight, see our latest action alert. The Minnesota Department of Agriculture is gathering public input on the social and economic impacts of large-scale dairies. To learn how to submit your comments by Oct. 1, click here.

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Planning for the Day America Exhausts its Supply of Phosphorus

(8/25/26) The American Association for the Advancement of Science describes a new research paper that addresses the phosphorus fertilizer crisis that U.S. agriculture could be facing in coming decades. Highlights:

• The U.S. could exhaust its domestic phosphorus supply within 40 years. Europe, Latin America, and Southeast Asia already depend on imports from China and Morocco to meet their needs. Without phosphorus, crops cannot grow; and without a reliable supply of the mineral, the world’s food supply is at risk. The U.S. classified phosphate (the mineral form of phosphorus used in fertilizers) as a critical mineral in 2025 due to concern about potential supply chain disruptions.
• In a new paper, researchers map where residual phosphorus can be found in U.S. soil, how much the country needs, and how it can be recovered from waste.
• The current approach to applying phosphorus is not only inefficient but also energy-intensive to manufacture. The rock must be mined, crushed, and extracted chemically. Then it is often transported across the world.
• The researchers outline options for bolstering the supply of phosphorus by creating a “circular economy” — recycling manure, eggshells, livestock bones, crop residue, and sewage sludge, for example. In particular, manure from dairy cows could be a good source of phosphorus, say the researches. But manure from confined dairy operations mainly consists of water, and typically it is not economically feasible to ship water. In order to benefit from the phosphorus content of manure, croplands would need to be relatively close to the source of the manure.

Check out LSP’s blog, “The Devil’s in the Details,” on the role regenerative agriculture could play in dealing with the challenges of a phosphorus-centric farming system.

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Farmers Union Processing + Meats is Ready for Livestock

(8/18/26) Agweek reports that Minnesota Farmers Union has opened a new meat processing facility in Staples, Minn. Highlights:

• The $8 million project is led by Minnesota Farmers Union and received about $4 million in federal funds from the U.S. Economic Development Administration and USDA. The facility will process beef, pork, and sheep for Cass, Crow Wing, Morrison, Todd, and Wadena counties.
• The opening of the facility comes at a time when four meatpacking giants control 85% of the beef market. In poultry, the top four processing firms control 54% of the market. And in pork, the top four processing firms control about 70% of the market. Tyson Foods announced closures last week of some operations in the face of near record high prices for cattle.
• The Staples facility is one of several that received funding in recent years to expand local meat processing. Other funds helped Lakes Country Cooperative in Perham, Minn., double its meat processing capacity. Central Lakes College in Staples and Ridgewater College in Willmar, Minn., also received funding to increase meat cutting training.

LSP’s blog, “Breaking the Meat Processing Bottleneck,” describes an initiative supported by the Endowed Chair in Agricultural Systems at the University of Minnesota that’s working to bolster local meat processing.

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Regenerative Ag Revolution Breathes New Life into Iowa Farm

(8/21/26) Wallaces Farmer describes how a focus on regenerative farming systems has allowed Wendy Johnson to return to her family’s Iowa farm. Highlights:

• After high school, Johnson attended college and moved to California and Brazil to pursue careers unrelated to agriculture. In 2014, she and her husband, Johnny Rafkin, moved back to family land in north-central Iowa and started Jóia Food & Fiber Farm. The operation utilizes agroforestry, new cash crops such as Kernza, cover crops, and pastured livestock to build soil health in a way that bolsters economic and ecological resiliency. The farm direct-markets livestock products to consumers and wholesalers.

• To learn a more regenerative approach to farming, Johnson attended agricultural conferences and crop workshops. Most helpful was Iowa State University’s Master Gardener program. “What I learned at a garden scale I amortized to a field level for crops,” she said.

• The farm’s soil-building practices have allowed Johnson and Rafkin to eliminate the use of commercial phosphorus and potassium fertilizer, and to reduce commercial nitrogen rates by 30% on no-till acres where they also plant cover crops, graze livestock, and rotate more cash crops.

LSP’s Ear to the Ground episode 366 features an interview with Wendy Johnson. Our Farm Beginnings Program is now accepting applications until Sept. 1 for the 2026-2027 class session. Details are here.

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