Groups Concerned That Trump’s USDA Will Continue to Favor Industry Family farm-based organizations in Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri and South Dakota sent a letter to Congress today calling for strong oversight of the recently passed Covid-19 aid package to ensure the USDA disburses aid to people and rural communities, not global agribusiness firms that reaped tens… Read More →
ELGIN, Minn. — A Land Stewardship Project (LSP) workshop called, “Cover Crops, No-Till & Grazing: Evaluating the Economics and First Steps to Improving Soil Health” will be held Wednesday, Jan. 29, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the Peace United Methodist Church between Plainview and Elgin. Co-sponsored by the Wabasha County Soil and Water… Read More →
OWATONNA, Minn. — Farmers, landowners, and anglers can learn how to buck the damage caused by extreme weather to soil and water during a program on Saturday, Jan. 25, being hosted by the Izaak Walton League’s (Ikes) Owatonna chapter and the Upper Mississippi River Initiative (UMRI). The workshop begins with registration at 9 a.m. at… Read More →
LSP Urges MN Farmers to Check Out Working Lands Conservation Program Improvements this Spring SAINT PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota farmers can now submit initial 2019 applications for the nation’s two premier working lands conservation initiatives: the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) and its cost share partner, the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). While applicants can apply… Read More →
In 2012, I had the great fortune to get a tip about a group of farmers, scientists and government soil conservationists who had teamed up in south-central North Dakota to take a holistic approach to making the land more resilient. By focusing intensively on building soil health utilizing a combination of practices—no-till, managed rotational grazing,… Read More →
PRESTON, Minn. — A Land Stewardship Project (LSP) workshop called, “Cover Crops, No-Till & Grazing: Evaluating the Economics and First Steps to Improving Soil” will be held Friday, Feb. 15, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the St. Columban Church in Preston (408 Preston St. NW). It will feature presentations by southwestern Minnesota farmers… Read More →
Two years ago, the Land Stewardship Project released the Cropping Systems Calculator (CSC), a “what-if” tool to examine the costs and returns of two crop rotations. This tool includes scenarios that involve row crops and grazing, and provides important information for farmers as they consider integrating soil building practices into their rotations. The original Calculator… Read More →
A southeastern Minnesota farmer’s drive to plant cover crops takes him out onto the snow and into new soil health territory.
The Minnesota HealthCare Financing Task Force is meeting today to vote on recommendations by the work groups, which will then be sent on to the state Legislature. I am especially concerned about the much-needed recommendation to increase MinnesotaCare eligibility from 200 percent (current level) to 275 percent of the federal poverty level, which is the… 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 →
