FARIBAULT, Minn. — Cover crops, no-till and soil health will be the focus of a field tour co-sponsored by the Land Stewardship Project (LSP) and the Rice County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) on Friday, Aug. 24, from 9:30 a.m. to noon. The tour starts at Mike Ludwig’s farm (1355 90th St. E., Northfield)… Read More →
New Report Calls for Reforms to Nation’s Biggest Ag Safety Net RAMSEY, Minn. — The nation’s biggest farm “safety net” has evolved into a program that harms family farms, the land and rural communities, while bolstering profits for major insurance companies, including one headquartered in Minnesota, said farmers and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients… Read More →
Crop Insurance Changes Needed in 2018 Farm Bill MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — The nation’s biggest farm “safety net” has evolved into a program that harms family farms, the land and rural communities, while bolstering profits for major insurance companies, including one headquartered in Minnesota. That’s the conclusion of “Crop Insurance: A Torn Safety Net,” a special… Read More →
GOODHUE, Minn. — Would you like to learn how to build soil while integrating livestock into your farming operation? This topic will be addressed at a Land Stewardship Project (LSP) soil health field day Saturday, Sept. 16, in Goodhue. Area farmers Kaleb Anderson and Jon and Jared Luhman will also cover how to no-till corn… Read More →
This spring, a marketing firm hired by WEC Energy Group stopped by our farm a number of times. They wanted us to sign an agreement allowing an Environmental Impact Statement to be done so that a natural gas pipeline could be laid through our front field. We worried that all the work that we had… Read More →
Not long ago, Rich and Carol Radtke were on a bit of a roll. They had graduated from the Land Stewardship Project’s Farm Beginnings course and felt the program had provided them a solid basis for developing a profitable farming operation on land they and their three children moved to in 2008. Before taking the… Read More →
Early this morning, the Minnesota Legislature took a major step toward supporting the kind of agriculture that can green up our landscape in a way that’s economically viable for farmers. Conference committee negotiations produced $1 million for Forever Green, an innovative University of Minnesota research initiative involving cover crops and perennial plant systems. Funding for… Read More →
Having just come from working several seasons as an outdoor educator, I have had ample time to appreciate our wild places. In my previous position as an instructor leading canoe and dogsled trips in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, I was able to explore the interactions between humans and nature and marvel in the… Read More →
Good things go bad when out of their rightful places. Take farm fertilizer and soil, essential ingredients in the field but all wrong in the 27 percent of Minnesota lakes now too contaminated to drink. Last month’s report from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) blasted corn-and-soybean agriculture as the major source of nitrogen contamination… Read More →
Talk about ignoring the elephant in the room. When Minnesota environmental officials announced the results of a new major nitrogen pollution study on Thursday, they were surprisingly frank about how bad the problem is, but just as surprisingly hesitant to name a major underlying cause: federal farm policy. First the problem: basically, the Minnesota Pollution… Read More →
