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Soil Health: From ‘Light Bulb’ Moment to Daily Practice

How Todd Duncan Learned to be Comfortable with being Uncomfortable

By Alex Romano
March 9, 2022

Nearly seven years ago, northeastern Iowa farmer and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) district conversationist, Todd Duncan, along with a group of local producers, started looking for tangible solutions to the erosion problems they were seeing on their farms. These farmers had already been implementing NRCS’s best management practices when it came to conversation, but…  Read More →

LSP’s 2022 MN Legislative Priorities

Soil Health, Drought Assistance, Processing Infrastructure are Priorities

By Amanda Koehler
December 23, 2021

Over the past few months, teams of Land Stewardship Project members who are farmers, farm-workers, processors, marketers, and rural Minnesotans have been coming together to put together a legislative agenda focused on ensuring all people and the land thrive, no exceptions. With the largest surplus in our state’s history and the legislative session starting on…  Read More →

Court’s Decision a Win for Land, Communities & Farms

By Matthew Sheets
November 3, 2021

In a win for the people and the land of southeastern Minnesota’s Winona County, the Minnesota Court of Appeals has declined to take up an appeal case that was brought forward by a large dairy attempting to expand well beyond an existing animal unit cap. This comes after years of neighbor-to-neighbor action and public engagement…  Read More →

Farm Transitions Profile: The Making of a Successful Farm Owner

When Timing is Everything, Sometimes it Pays to Manipulate the Calendar

By Brian DeVore
August 24, 2021

Harvey Benson had a simple transition plan for the farm that had been in his family since the late 1860s: he would continue living on those 160 acres until he died, and then it would be passed on to his partner, Bonita Underbakke. In fact, when people ask him if he’s lived on the farm…  Read More →

Land Line: Carbon Cow Stomp, CC Myths, Record Plantings, Dairy Bankruptcies, Rural COVID Cases, Dangerous Line Speeds

By Brian DeVore
February 21, 2021

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 →

MN Farmers Welcome Hearing of Groundbreaking Soil Health Legislation

February 17, 2021

Bill to Offer Incentives to Reach ‘100% Soil Healthy Farming’ in MN by 2040 SAINT PAUL, Minn. — Calling it a “win-win” for agriculture and the environment, farmer-members of the Land Stewardship Project (LSP) applauded today’s scheduled hearing of the “100% Soil Healthy Farming Bill” in the Minnesota House Agriculture and Food Finance and Policy…  Read More →

Land Line: Efficiency’s Cost, Busting Big Ag, Neonic No-No, Rooting Out Racism, Rural Isolation, Winter Greens

By Brian DeVore
February 12, 2021

Feb. 12: An LSP Round-up of News Covering Land, People & Communities The Efficiency Curse — We built a ‘better’ food system. The cost: It couldn’t handle a pandemic. (2/5/21) When COVID-19 arrived in the U.S., we discovered that the food system was fragile, rigid, and therefore vulnerable. But, as Michael Pollan points out in…  Read More →

Land Line: Greenwashing Manure, Climate & Organics, Graziers Needed, Black Farmers, Rural Health Crisis

By Brian DeVore
January 7, 2021

Jan. 7: An LSP Round-up of News Covering Land, People & Communities As the Livestock Industry Touts Manure-to-Energy Projects, Environmentalists Cry ‘Greenwashing’ (12/7/21) Inside Climate News reports that as utilities, oil companies, and livestock companies pitch biogas (turning manure into energy) as an emissions-reducing solution, critics say it simply locks in systems that allow two…  Read More →

Land Line: Crop Diversity, Hmong Farmers, Ag Secretary Rumors, Ag Policy Changes, Meatpacker Abuse

By Brian DeVore
November 13, 2020

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 →