SAINT PAUL, Minn. — Although the Minnesota Legislature wrapped up its 2025 session on May 19 with some unfinished business, the Agriculture Bill passed before adjournment, which means Land Stewardship Project (LSP) priorities related to market access, land access and soil health will make it to Gov. Tim Walz’s desk.
“While this was a difficult session to navigate with threats of budget shortfalls, cuts to federal funding and overall policy uncertainty, LSP members and our partners stepped up to make sure the needs of farmers and rural communities were centered and heard,” said Laura Schreiber, LSP’s government relations director. “They should be proud of the result: lawmakers listened and worked together to pass an Agriculture Bill that will help communities meet this moment.”
Getting Food from Farms to Kids
In recent years, the AGRI Farm to School and Early Care Programs have been critical for expanding market access opportunities across the state, especially for beginning farmers and smaller operators, as well as for getting healthy, local food to Minnesota’s kids in schools and childcare settings. Year-after-year there is greater demand for these resources than funding available; in 2023, for example, there were $5.3 million in requests, and currently the state funds it at just $1.29 million.
Thanks to the work of LSP and allies such as the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, the Agriculture Bill that was passed now provides $1.59 million in funding for Farm to School and Early Care the first year and $1.54 million the second year, which represents a $300,000 and $250,000 increase, respectively, over current funding.
“Thanks to the bi-partisan support for this program, this increase in funding will create more market access opportunities for smaller farmers that are growing a range of products, from protein to produce, to be served to Minnesotan children all across the state,” said Schreiber. “Not only is this a win for farmers, but students benefit as well by being able to enjoy high-quality, local food that builds a connection with their community.”
This is a much-needed win for local producers and Farm to School and Early Care Programs — in March, the USDA abruptly cancelled $18 million in federal funding that had been awarded to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) in October 2024 to support local food purchasing initiatives. The Local Food Purchase Assistance Program (LFPA), for example, has proven to be a highly effective way to get farmers paid a fair price for food that is then given to food shelves in their community.
Fortunately, the Agriculture Bill establishes a Minnesota version of the LFPA with an investment of $1.4 million over the next two years. This new program is required to source at least 70% of its food from “limited land access farmers” and “limited market access farmers.” These are farmers that do not own land and or have a lease that is three years or less in duration and have less than $100,000 in annual gross sales. The food that is purchased from local farmers must then be provided free of charge to food banks and food shelves.
Land Access
An initiative developed to assist beginning farmers with purchasing farmland — the Minnesota Down Payment Assistance Program — has been overwhelmed with applications since it was established in 2022. During the 2025 legislative session, LSP and its allies worked to improve the program by allowing farmers up to a year (the stipulation is currently six months) to purchase land with awarded funds. And as a result of skyrocketing land prices, LSP and its allies pushed for legislation that would increase the grant award from $15,000 to $25,000 per successful applicant.
In the end, the timeline was not extended. However, overall the program will be funded at $2.5 million over the next two years, which represents a $250,000 per year increase over the current budget. In addition, each grantee is now eligible for up to $20,000 in funding.
“Throughout this session, our members shared their stories with legislators about how difficult it is to access affordable land, especially in areas close to the Twin Cities Metro where we have the most markets,” said Pam Hartwell, an LSP policy organizer based in southeastern Minneota. “Raising the award amount is a great step in the right direction and we know that the work must continue to address the multiple barriers that stand in the way of getting more farmers onto the land.”
Soil Health & Water Quality
During this session, LSP backed legislation that would provide continued funding for the popular Soil Health Financial Assistance Program, which provides farmers resources for purchasing the kind of equipment they need to build healthy soil in an economically viable manner. Given that the program recently received requests worth $5 million, it’s clear there’s huge demand for this initiative’s resources.
The final Agriculture Bill provides the Soil Health Financial Assistance Program $639,000 in the first year and $639,000 in the second year. There is additional support for this program in the Legacy Bill under Clean Water Funds that would add $1.75 million in the first year and another $1.75 million in the second year. That’s still below meeting the needs of farmers seeking to adopt soil-healthy practices, but it shows continued public support for regenerative farming methods, something that has been growing in recent legislative sessions due to the work of LSP and its allies, said Schreiber.
The Agriculture Bill also provides $75,000 to do a cost-benefit analysis of the innovative Olmsted County Groundwater Protection and Soil Health Program, which pays farmers for putting in soil healthy practices that protect water quality. The results of this analysis are due June 1, 2027, and could possibly serve as the basis for eventually expanding the program beyond Olmsted County.
“At a time when agricultural input prices continue to soar, when extreme weather is now our norm and communities continue to face rising nitrate levels in surface and groundwater, we must invest in programs and opportunities that center building soil health and resilience both environmentally and economically,” said Schreiber. “These programs are important steps toward that goal.”
For a complete report on how LSP’s priorities fared during the 2025 session of the Minnesota Legislature, see https://bit.ly/LSP2025session. For more on Farm to School and Early Care funding, see the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy’s website at IATP.org/press.
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The Land Stewardship Project is a nonprofit organization dedicated to an ethic of stewardship for farmland, promoting sustainable agriculture and developing healthy communities. LSP has offices in the Minnesota communities of Lewiston, Montevideo and South Minneapolis. More information is at landstewardshipproject.org.