Land Stewardship Project

Land Stewardship Project
  • About Us
    • Our Mission
    • Long Range Plan
    • Staff Directory
    • Board of Directors
      • LSP Board Committees
    • LSP Steering Committees & Working Groups
    • Contact Us
    • Past LSP Projects
    • Employment & Volunteer Opportunities
    • LSP Publications
    • Financial Statements
  • The Latest
    • Community Care
    • Songs for the Soil
    • CSA Farm Directory
    • Upcoming Events
    • News
      • News Releases
      • Media Contacts
      • LSP in the News
    • Blog
    • Podcast
    • Land Stewardship Letter
    • LIVE-WIRE Sign-up
    • Myth Busters
    • Fact Sheets
    • Farm Crisis Resources
  • For Farmers & Landowners
    • Farmland Clearinghouse
    • New Farmers
      • Farm Beginnings Class
      • Journeyperson Course
      • Farm Dreams
      • Accessing Farmland
      • Farmland Clearinghouse
      • Beginning/Retiring Farmer Tax Credit
      • Beginning Farmer Profiles
    • Retiring Farmers & Landowners
      • Farmland Clearinghouse
      • Farm Transition Planning Course
      • Conservation Leases
      • Beginning/Retiring Farmer Tax Credit
      • Land Transition Tools
      • Transition Stories
    • Soil Health
      • Cover Crops
      • Grazing
      • No-till
      • Microbiology
      • Soil Builders’ Network
      • Soil Builders’ E-Letters
      • Soil Health Steering Committee Members
    • Cropping Systems Calculator
    • Conservation Leases
  • Creating Change
    • Community-Based Food Systems
    • Policy Campaigns
      • Soil Health & Climate Change
      • Healthcare
      • Factory Farms
        • Anti-Competitiveness & Price Gouging
        • LSP Powerline Story Center
      • Federal Policy
        • A Farm Bill For Us
      • State Policy
        • MN Farm, Food & Climate Funding
      • Developing Leadership
    • Justice & Stewardship
    • Organizational Stewardship
    • Building People Power
  • Get Involved
    • Take Action!
    • Upcoming Events
    • Land Stewardship Action Fund
    • Connect with LSP
      • Stay Connected
      • Join, Donate, or Renew Today!
      • Shop
      • Employment & Volunteer Opportunities
      • Legacy Giving
    • Network with LSP Members
      • Farmland Clearinghouse
      • Soil Health
    • Farmland Clearinghouse
  • Join, Donate, or Renew Today!
  • Stay Connected
  • Contact Us
  • Shop
Search
More...

LSP Publications

Share

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • email

As part of its education-to-action strategy, the Land Stewardship Project periodically produces deeply researched publications on everything from soil health and local democracy to the need for policy reform.

Click on the Headings to Download pdfs of these LSP Publications

LSP Bridge to Soil Health Program’s Peer-to-Peer Learning Groups:
The Strategy & Construction of Regional Farmer Soil Hubs

Through this publication, LSP is sharing our experience constructing and implementing the Regional Soil Hubs through our Bridge to Soil Health initiative. We hope that other agricultural groups, including farmer-led groups, might want to borrow or adapt some of the approaches we’ve used.

 

Soil Health, Water & Climate Change: A Pocket Guide to What You Need to Know

This 50-page pocket guide provides policymakers, educators, journalists, and the general public an introduction to the latest innovations in science and farming related to building soil health, and how implementing such practices on a wide scale basis can make agriculture a powerful force for creating a landscape that is good for our water and our climate. Download the app here; download the pdf here.

 

Our Minnesota Future: A Vision for Rural Minnesota

A Vision for Rural Minnesota was developed from input given by hundreds of Land Stewardship Project members during the fall of 2017. This publication is designed as a tool to use in conversations with neighbors, candidates for public office, and others about our values, challenges, and vision for the future of rural communities and our state.

Building the Bridge to Soil Health

In October 2020, a special LSP report was published: Building the Bridge to Soil Health: The Power of Organizing Farmer-to-Farmer Engagement. It describes the organization’s experience with launching the Bridge to Soil Health initiative in Minnesota. The report is available here.

Farming to Capture Carbon & Address Climate
Change Through Building Soil Health

This LSP white paper, written by George Boody in 2020, describes how well-managed grazing and continuous living cover benefit the climate, our waters, farmers, and taxpayers through improved soil health.

Special Report: Soil Health, Profits & Resiliency

In 2012 the Land Stewardship Letter published a series of articles on the groundbreaking work being done by a team of farmers, conservationists and scientists in North Dakota’s Burleigh County to combine soil health, profitability, and greater overall community sustainability. This special report combines those articles and information on additional resources.

Special Report: King of the Cover Crops

In 2015 and 2016, the Land Stewardship Letter published a series of articles on the Indiana soil health hubs that brought together farmers, resource professionals, implement dealers, and input suppliers. These networks helped make the state a leader in cover cropping and greatly influenced LSP’s development of similar soil health hubs in Minnesota.

The Money Pit: How Minnesota Property Taxpayers are Subsidizing Factory Farms 

This is an LSP report on how a little-known law exempting manure storage facilities from property taxes unfairly benefits large-scale livestock operations.

The Land Stewardship Letter 

This is the nationally-known publication of the Land Stewardship Project. Members of the Land Stewardship Project receive a hard copy of this newsletter as a benefit. Annual membership dues are $35. Address all membership inquiries to Clara Sanders via e-mail or at 612-400-6340. Click here for detailed information on becoming a member of LSP today.

Connecting Economic & Racial Justice to Expand a Rural Social Justice Network

LSP has developed “Connecting Economic & Racial Justice to Expand a Rural Social Justice Network” as a reference document for any group, agency, or organization looking to establish and grow a social justice network in their locality. This report is also intended to guide other social justice networks through discussions and activities that draw out their values, experiences, and ideas for influencing social change in their communities.

Protecting Your Township from Unwanted Development 

Produced by LSP’s Policy and Organizing Program, this booklet provides guidance to townships on using the Minnesota Interim Ordinance and other tools in the state’s Municipal Planning law. It also contains an extensive list of resources. This is the 3rd edition of this publication; it was originally written in 1997 and updated again in 2006. The 2018 version includes significant updates, including information on frac sand mining operations. 65 pages.

People’s EIS Scoping Report: Citizen Comments on the Necessary Scope and Depth of the Environmental Impact Statement on the Minnesota Sands Frac Sand Proposal

On Tuesday, July 9, 2013, 100 people attended a Land Stewardship Project meeting in Rushford, Minn., to state their serious concerns about the destructive impacts a frac sand mining proposal would have on their lives and communities and to raise the specific issues that must be included within the scope of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) being done on the proposal. Their comments are compiled in this report.

Creating a Bright Future for Livestock Farms in Minnesota: A Report by the Citizen Task Force on Livestock Farms & Rural Communities

In 2004, the Citizen Task Force on Livestock Farmers and Rural Communities studied the challenges and opportunities facing livestock farmers and rural communities, and assembled a list of priority recommendations to policy makers and community leaders on ways to increase the number and profitability of Minnesota livestock farmers in ways that benefit rural communities, recognizing that livestock farmers and vibrant rural communities are interrelated.

The Syngenta Corporation & Atrazine: The Cost to the Land, People & Democracy 

In January 2010 the Land Stewardship Project and Pesticide Action Network North America collaborated on a special report on atrazine, one of the most commonly detected pesticides in U.S. ground and surface water. This report offers a review of the many environmental and health concerns surrounding atrazine and describes how its inventor and primary manufacturer, Syngenta, has resisted attempts to conduct extensive research on the chemical and regulate its use. The report also highlights what farmers can do to end their reliance on atrazine.

Crop Insurance Reports

Farmer-members of the Land Stewardship Project have long called for reforms to the federally subsidized crop insurance program. Originally developed as a basic safety net that would prevent farmers from being wiped out by a weather disaster, the program has evolved into a system for subsidizing the growth and consolidation or mega-cropping operations. This has been bad news for small and medium-sized farmers as well as soil health, water quality, and wildlife habitat. Over the years, LSP has worked with its members and various experts to develop numerous reports on what’s wrong with the crop insurance program and what reforms are needed to bring it back to its roots as a fair safety net.

 

Crop Insurance: How a Safety Net Became a Farm Policy Disaster

– White Paper #1: Crop Insurance — The Corporate Connection

Crop Insurance: How a Safety Net Became a Farm Policy Disaster

– White Paper #2: Crop Insurance Ensures the Big Get Bigger

Crop Insurance: How a Safety Net Became a Farm Policy Disaster

– White Paper #3: How Crop Insurance Hurts the Next Generation of Farmers

Crop Insurance: How a Safety Net Became a Farm Policy Disaster

– Principles of Reform

Crop Insurance: How a Safety Net Became a Farm Policy Disaster

– Why Investigate Crop Insurance?

Crop Insurance: How a Safety Net Became a Farm Policy Disaster

– Fact Sheet: How Federally Subsidized Crop Insurance Works

Crop Insurance: A Torn Safety Net

– Why the Farm Bill’s Biggest Agricultural Program is a Boon to Corporations and a Bust for Family Farmers & the Land

Contact

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

  • About Us
    • Our Mission
    • Long Range Plan
    • Staff Directory
    • Board of Directors
      • LSP Board Committees
    • LSP Steering Committees & Working Groups
    • Contact Us
    • Past LSP Projects
    • Employment & Volunteer Opportunities
    • LSP Publications
    • Financial Statements
  • Join, Donate, or Renew
  • Building People Power

Upcoming Events

×

May 2025

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.

June 2025

Wednesday June 25

2:00 pm – 5:00 pm
LSP-PFI Grazing Field Day at Hoosier Ridge Ranch
Wednesday June 25
2:00 pm – 5:00 pm
LSP-PFI Grazing Field Day at Hoosier Ridge Ranch
Hoosier Ridge Ranch, 15998 Wabasha County Rd 26, Altura, MN 55910, USA

Over the last 50 years, livestock have left many farms. Eric Heins is doing the reverse: bringing cattle – and their poop, pee and hooves – back to his land. Come see how Eric is using his Normande-shorthorn crosses in a variety of grazing situations. During this Land Stewardship Project-Practical Farmers of Iowa field day, you can view permanent pasture, where Eric (like everyone) is battling the cool-season grass takeover. You’ll also learn how Eric is using his cattle in cover crop mixes, prairie and woodlands.

Since purchasing the farm in 2020, Eric has converted the cropland to pasture. He also custom-farms a diverse rotation of crops, covers and small grains on neighboring farms, including an established prairie on Iowa Department of Natural Resources land. A possible bonus: Eric is hoping to have virtual fence collars by the time of the field day, but no guarantees!

A meal featuring Hoosier Ridge Ranch burgers will follow the field day.

See & Discuss

  • Cash-flowing the conversion to pasture on owned versus rented cropland
  • Stockpiling pasture for winter grazing
  • Mechanical buckthorn clearing for silvopasture
  • Grazing agreements on DNR prairie and neighboring cropland
  • A sudangrass mix after a canning pea crop
  • An extended rotation with oats, barley and Kernza

For details and to register, click here.

View Full Calendar

Recent Posts

  • Land Line: Invisible Hand, Price-Fixing, Oat Mafia, Bird Flu, Profitable Conservation, SNAP, Compost, Farm Subsidizers May 12, 2025
  • LSP Legislative Update: Heading into the Final Days May 7, 2025
  • Hopping into the Lunch Line May 7, 2025
  • Sign the Petition Supporting Soil Health Legislation May 2, 2025
  • Sign the Petition for Legislative Support of “Farm to Kids” May 2, 2025

Montevideo

111 North First Street
Montevideo, MN 56265

(320) 269-2105

Lewiston

180 E. Main Street
Lewiston, MN 55952

(507) 523-3366

Minneapolis

821 E. 35th Street #200
Minneapolis, MN 55407

(612) 722-6377

  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2025 Land Stewardship Project. All rights reserved.

https://landstewardshipproject.org/publications