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Soil Health Survey: 5 Key Takeaways from Minnesota Farmers

(10/29/26) Minnesota Crop News reports on the results of a survey of 1,100 farmers across Minnesota to better understand their perspectives on soil management and soil health practices. Highlights:

• Over 80% of respondents feel a responsibility to not contribute to water resource problems and understand that their land management makes a difference to water quality. At the same time, 36% agreed that “protecting the environment will threaten the livelihoods for people like me.”
• When asked about soil problems that are currently impacting the land they farm, respondents identified water problems (41%), soil compaction/crusting (38%), nutrient loss (30%), and erosion (28%) as having a moderate or strong impact. Almost four out of 10 agreed that their land is as productive as it could be.
• When asked how important several factors were to soil management decisions, more than 75% agreed that protecting productivity, increasing long-term profitability, increasing yield, and making sure the land stays in the family were very to extremely important.

For information on building soil health profitably, see LSP’s Soil Health web page.

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Nitrogen Pollution in Minnesota’s Central Sands Region

(9/24/26) In an online “StoryMap,” the Natural Resources Defense Council explores how agricultural practices combined with specific geological features make Minnesota’s Central Sands uniquely vulnerable to nitrogen pollution, and describes the consequences for communities and local ecosystems. Highlights:

• The Central Sands region, which consists of 14 counties in central Minnesota, is a hotspot for nitrogen pollution. Sandy soils left behind by retreating glaciers thousands of years ago support one of Minnesota’s most productive agricultural regions. However, this type of soil allows water to move more quickly through the ground and carry whatever is dissolved in that water with it, including a number of agricultural chemicals, like nitrate. Soil microbes break down nitrogen into a compound called nitrate, a form of nitrogen that is easy for plants to take up and use. Nitrate is water soluble and highly mobile. When it rains or when water is applied to croplands, nitrates moves through the soil with the water.

•  In 2024, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture found that Central Sands had the highest median concentration of nitrates in its groundwater of any region in the state. The region also had the highest maximum concentrations of any part of the state, with the top 10% of wells testing at 28.0 mg/L, and a maximum of 81.2 mg/L, eight times higher than EPA’s drinking water limit for nitrates.

• Over-application of nitrogen fertilizer and manure generated by concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) contribute to nitrogen pollution in direct and indirect pathways.
• Many residents of Minnesota rely entirely on their own private wells for drinking water, which pull from groundwater. In the Central Sands, 190,367 households get their drinking water from private wells.

LSP has launched a special “Rethink N” podcast series that features farmers, researchers, natural resource professionals, and others who are on the frontlines of figuring out ways to fix the dysfunctional relationship between agriculture and water.

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North Dakota Bucks Fertilizer Trend, Study Says

(10/26/26) A new global dataset from the University of Minnesota shows North Dakota farmers put about 21% less fertilizer on each acre of corn than they did in the 1980s. Of the six Upper Midwest states in the comparison, North Dakota is the only one where rates fell by more than 1%, Agweek reports. Highlights:

• The study found that global fertilizer use has at least doubled since 1980, and nitrogen rates in the heaviest-use regions are more than 10 times those in the lightest.
• According to a dataset pulled from the study at Agweek‘s request, Minnesota’s average nitrogen rate on corn rose from about 108 pounds per acre in the 1980s to roughly 148 in the 2020s; South Dakota went from about 46 to 129; application rates in Wisconsin and Nebraska also rose, while Iowa stayed at about 139 pounds per acre.
• North Dakota fell from about 178 pounds per acre to about 141. Over the same period, the state’s corn acreage in the dataset grew from roughly 478,000 acres to nearly 3 million. Between about 2007 and 2012, North Dakota State University began setting rates for nitrogen fertilizer by weighing what the crop sells for against what nitrogen costs, according to Brady Goettl, assistant professor and Extension specialist in soil science at NDSU. “There’s that sweet point of where we can make the most profitability off that crop,” he told Agweek. Goettl also cautioned against putting too much stock into one statewide number for fertilizer applications, given how much soil, weather, and other conditions can vary across the state.

This summer, LSP launched its “Rethink N”campaign to build a farmer-led, public movement that shows the power of nitrogen-reducing practices and to create the political momentum needed to pass strong nutrient reduction policies during Minnesota’s 2027 legislative session.

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The New Food Movement

(10/20/26) Writing in The Atlantic, Michael Pollan reflects on the state of the food movement 20 years after his groundbreaking book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, was published. Highlights:

• In many ways, the problems Pollan highlighted in his book have gotten worse. Monocrops of corn and soybeans have increased their dominance of the Midwestern landscape, thanks in large part to government policy. And Big Food and Big Ag have increased significantly their influence over farmers’ and eaters’ daily lives. “…the small number of corporations that dominate meatpacking, seed production, chemical fertilizers and pesticides, grain trading and processing, fast-food chains, and supermarkets has only gotten smaller since 2006, as oligopolies tighten their grip on the industrial food chain that feeds most of us,” writes Pollan.
• But Pollan feels there are positive signs of change in the food system as well. Organic food is now a $65 billion industry (up from roughly $13 billion in 2005), and there are an estimated 8,100 farmers’ markets in America (up from about 4,000 in 2005). Overall, what Pollan calls the “alternative food economy” is approaching a value of $75 billion a year. The relatively recent focus on the negative health impacts of ultra-processed foods is also a good sign that eaters are questioning the food industry status quo.
• Pollan also sees potential in the so-called “Make America Healthy Again,” or MAHA, movement to have a positive impact on the food and farming system. In the past, questioning the conventional food system was often branded as a “liberal” or “elitist” cause. The MAHA movement, on the other hand, has engaged people who identify as conservative or even libertarian, writes Pollan.
• However, the writer also expresses concerns about the MAHA movement’s connection to the anti-vaccination movement and its hyper-focus on individual freedom. “MAHA’s primary interest is our health as individuals, not the health of the environment; the movement has shown little interest in food insecurity or the rights of food workers,” he writes, adding later, “And yet there are promising areas of overlap — around banning agricultural chemicals and the ingredients in ultra­-processed foods, as well as supporting local food systems and regenerative farming.”

For information on LSP’s community-based food systems work, click here. On Feb. 22, LSP will be holding the 2027 Western Minnesota Food Forum at the University of Minnesota-Morris. To register and share ideas on what you would like to see addressed at the forum, click here.

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No New Crops

(11/10/26) Nolan Monaghan, writing in Offrange, discusses the challenges of getting new crops established in an agricultural system dominated by commodities such as corn and soybeans. Highlights:

• Diversifying the cropping system can inject economic and environmental resilience into farming. “But attaining diversity — which requires an extensive ecosystem of aggregators, processors, and customers — is hindered by a core chicken-and-egg conundrum: farmers are hesitant to plant without existing demand, and entrepreneurs are reluctant to invest in new facilities and product lines without reliable supply,” writes Monaghan.
• The writer cites the work of the University of Minnesota’s Forever Green initiative as a potential model for smoothing the pathway for alternative crops. Forever Green is developing new crops such as Kernza and helping farmers learn how to integrate them into their current systems. But Forever Green also has a major commercialization initiative in place. Through this work, staff are working with seed companies, seed cleaning operations, processors, and food companies to help create a viable supply chain for alternative crops.

Episode 367 of LSP’s Ear to the Ground podcast features an interview where the late Colin Cureton talks about his work at Forever Green to expand market opportunities for farmers raising alternative crops like Kernza.

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Environmental Advocates Seek Policy Change to Reduce Effects of Industrial Ag on Climate

(11/9/26) Agweek reports on a webinar where participants discussed the role industrialized agricultural operations are playing in worsening the climate crisis in Minnesota. Highlights:

• Agriculture is the state’s second biggest emitter of greenhouse gases. The livestock sector, in particular, has become a significant contributor to climate change as large-scale concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) proliferate, said Leigh Currie, the chief impact officer for the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy. CAFOs contribute to the problem not only through emissions directly from the animals, but via the way massive amounts of manure are handled and their dependence on feed-crop production systems that are energy-intensive and that release carbon into the atmosphere.
• While sectors such as transportation have come under closer scrutiny for their production of greenhouse gas emissions, industrialized livestock operations have mostly escaped accountability, according to Laura Fox, a clinical lecturer and research scholar at Yale Law School.
• Matthew Sheets, an organizer for the Land Stewardship Project, discussed the role small and medium-sized livestock operations could play in utilizing sustainable production practices that reduce greenhouse gases. However, extreme consolidation in dairying, for example, has set back such efforts. The recent government approval of the West River Dairy expansion in Stevens County, which will create the largest CAFO in the state, will only worsen the climate change situation, Sheets said, adding that steps need to be taken to not only control the size of large CAFOs, but to put in place an economic system that supports moderate-sized operations.

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture recently gathered comments from the public on the socioeconomic impacts of large-scale dairies. The comments will be summarized for the Minnesota Legislature ahead of the 2027 legislative session. This unprecedented comment period is the result of concerns raised by LSP members and other members of the public over Riverview LLP’s plans to create the largest dairy operation in the state’s history near Morris. You can read the comments LSP submitted here.

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Democratic Midterm Sweep Points to Major Shifts in Food and Farm Policy 

(11/4/26) Writing in Civil Eats, Lisa Held reports that food and farm issues played a big role in several of the recent mid-term election races, both on the national and state level. It now remains to be seen if having Democrats dominate the House and Senate, as well as many statehouses, will bring about a major shift in agriculture policy. Highlights:

• Democratic leaders say one of their first priorities in 2027 will be to pressure President Trump to end the war with Iran, which could, among other things, lower diesel and fertilizer prices for farmers.
• Democrats will take over steering the future of important legislation, including the Farm Bill, which is three years overdue for renewal and has stalled in the Senate, due to party-line disagreements over changes Republicans made to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
• Several of the candidates who won governors’ races are already known for their attention to food and farming policy. Senator Amy Klobuchar, the current top Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee, will now be Minnesota’s next governor.
• Overall, Republican candidates supported by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and sectors of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement did not do well. But some advocates said that food and farm issues that appeal to many MAHA voters as well as Democrats and Independents — like confronting corporate power to support small farms and food businesses and lower food prices — drove voter behavior in new ways. “Rural America didn’t vote red or blue… It voted in support of independent farmers,” Farm Action Fund president and farmer Joe Maxwell said in a press release. “From Iowa to Florida, voters rewarded candidates who stood up to the meatpackers, the pesticide giants and the corporate lobbyists writing farm policy in Washington.”

All politicians make big promises, and many make them with genuine intent. And yet, we’ve seen that leaders from both parties frequently put the interests of family farmers and rural communities lower down on their list of priorities, even as they’re sure to mention them from the stump. In the wake of last week’s mid-term elections, LSP is seeking input from our members and supporters about how we advance our work in the months ahead. You can share your thoughts here.

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