Feb. 21: An LSP Round-up of News Covering Land, People & Communities A Different Kind of Land Management: Let the Cows Stomp (2/17/21) The New York Times writes about how Texas cattle producer Adam Isaacs is using regenerative grazing to reclaim worn-out, weedy pastureland on some 5,000 acres. Highlights: Regenerative grazing means closely managing where… Read More →
Feb. 5: An LSP Round-up of News Covering Land, People & Communities More Farmers Are Planting Cover Crops Thanks To State Incentive Programs (1/29/21) Harvest Public Media reports on how state incentive programs are boosting the planting of cover crops in Iowa and Illinois. Highlights: In both states, farmers can qualify for discounts on their… Read More →
Jan. 29: An LSP Round-up of News Covering Land, People & Communities After COVID-related Livestock Kills, a Push to Diversify Meat Processing in Minnesota (1/25/21) When several large pork processing plants shuttered last spring because workers got sick with COVID-19, it had a huge impact on farmers across the Midwest. One estimate is more than… Read More →
Jan. 15: An LSP Round-up of News Covering Land, People & Communities Bill Gates: America’s Top Farmland Owner (1/15/21) Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and his wife Melinda Gates are now the largest private farmland owners in the U.S., according to The Land Report. Highlights: They have accumulated a massive farmland portfolio — 242,000 acres —… Read More →
Nov. 13 : An LSP Round-up of News Covering Land, People & Communities Crop Diversification Can Help Environment Without Sacrificing Yields (11/12/20) A new study shows diversifying agricultural systems beyond a narrow selection of crops leads to a range of ecosystem improvements while also maintaining or improving yields, reports Morning Ag Clips. But an Iowa… Read More →
Oct. 30: An LSP Round-up of News Covering Land, People & Communities Prevented Plant at Historic Highs Again in 2020 (10/26/20) Over 10 million acres of U.S. crop ground was not planted this year as a result of extreme weather conditions, reports Agricultural Economic Insights. This growing season marks the second-highest “prevented plant” level in… Read More →
Sept. 30: An LSP Round-up of News Covering Land, People & Communities Mercaris: Organic Production Continues to Grow (9/28/20) The U.S. harvested organic field crop area will exceed 3.4 million acres over the 2020-2021 marketing year, which is an increase of 4% over the previous marketing year, according to the market data service Mercaris. The… Read More →
When Nathan Vergin applied to work as an apprentice on Polyface Farm in Virginia back in the mid-2000s, he had to undergo a three-day “working interview.” Vergin, who grew up helping out on a sheep dairy near Northfield, Minn., passed the trial by fire, and went on to serve a two-year apprenticeship with the farm’s… Read More →
A BioBlitz Highlights the Role Livestock Farmers Can Play in Habitat Improvement It’s the kind of overcast day in June that leaves one wondering if the sun decided to take an extended summer holiday. But as heavy thunderstorms threaten this part of Big Stone County in western Minnesota, some 130-people break up into teams and… Read More →
It’s been said that soil without biology is just geology—an accumulation of lifeless minerals unable to spawn healthy plant growth. And as intense monocropping production practices increasingly remove more life from the ground than they return, it sends that soil closer to fossilization via what conservationist Barry Fisher calls, “the spiral of degradation”: eroded, compacted… Read More →
