Over Thanksgiving, I was perusing the Dairy Star at my brother-in-law’s house in Stillwater, Minn. Having grown up on a dairy farm, I still like to see how the industry is doing. A column by Sadie Frerichs called, “The Negative Impacts of Health Insurance,” caught my eye. Because of the recent health insurance rate increases… Read More →
When I heard that Land Stewardship Project board member Loretta Jaus was being recognized by the White House this week as a “Champion of Change for Sustainable and Climate-Smart Agriculture,” I couldn’t think of a more deserving recipient. From the first time almost a decade ago that I visited the western Minnesota dairy operation she… Read More →
A Minnesota Dairy Farm Transitions from One Family to the Next Atop the river-bluffs near the southeastern Minnesota community of La Crescent, the 90-plus Ayrshires of Enchanted Meadows Organic Farm munch on fescue, clovers, plantain and other greenery on a recent summer day. Then, on schedule, they’re led from pasture to barn. Recently, after 10… Read More →
Governor Mark Dayton announced on Aug. 4 that he would use his Executive Authority to create a Governors’ Citizens Committee to fill in for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) Citizens’ Board. Earlier this year, despite a huge outpouring of opposition from rural people, the Minnesota Legislature abolished the 48-year-old Citizens’ Board. “As regulators make… Read More →
STARBUCK, Minn. — What do you want your community to look like in the next 10 years? Issues related to beginning farmers, farm success, farm transition and vibrant local communities will be on the agenda during a Land Stewardship Project (LSP) community meeting Tuesday, June 30, from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., at the gallery… Read More →
I’ve been watching with great concern the outbreak of H5N2 highly pathogenic avian influenza in Minnesota turkey confinements. As of today, nine facilities in the state have been affected, including in Lac Qui Parle County, which borders Big Stone, where we live. I raise what the Minnesota Department of Agriculture refers to as a “backyard… Read More →
There’s a farm near Hixton, Wis., (Jackson County) that is in the process of being destroyed by being turned into a frac sand mine. I would say it’s a least a couple of hundred acres. It’s at the intersection of Highway 95 and Green (but not for long!) Acres Road. Some excavation has begun, there… Read More →
From the fact-is-stranger-than-fiction department: In 2007, Monsanto talked the USDA’s Risk Management Agency into giving farmers a discount on crop insurance premiums if they planted the company’s triple-stacked GMO corn. Reportedly, some reviewers of the proposal raised concerns that the premium subsidy would unfairly benefit a single private company. But in the end, the USDA… Read More →
LSP Outlines Major Reforms for Making the Nation’s Largest Ag Program an Accountable & Reliable Safety Net for All Producers LE SUEUR, Minn. — The nation’s largest federal agriculture program is a significant barrier to beginning farmers who are trying to get access to land and capital, according to a new white paper released by… Read More →
2nd of 3 LSP White Papers Examines Nation’s Biggest Farm Program BOYD, Minn. — A key federal farm program has become an engine for consolidating land and financial resources in rural communities in Minnesota and across the country, according to a new white paper released by the Land Stewardship Project (LSP) today. Launched in 1938… Read More →
