Ear to the Ground 236: Nature as Profit Partner

How farmers Dawn and Grant Breitkreutz are building soil carbon and bolstering financial resiliency.

For more on how to build soil health profitably, check out the Land Stewardship Project’s Soil Builders web page. For information on Soil Health Academy Schools hosted by Stoney Creek Farm as well as other operations, see www.soilhealthacademy.org. LSP did a podcast interview with Dawn and Grant Breitkreutz earlier in their farming career. It’s episode 132.

Upcoming Events

June 2023

Tuesday June 13

11:00 am – 12:00 pm: Forever Green Webinar on Kernza
Tuesday June 13
11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Forever Green Webinar on Kernza
The Environmental & Economic Clusters of Opportunity (EECO) grant provides an ecosystem services payment as well as risk management payments to growers enrolled in the program for winter barley, hybrid winter rye, winter camelina, and Kernza. Join us for an introductory webinar series on these four crops where we pair University researchers and Extension professionals with farmers who have trialed these crops on-farm. The June 13 webinar on Kernza features Jake Jungers (UMN assistant professor), Prabin Bajgain (UMN assistant professor) and Jay Peterson (farmer, Blooming Prairie, Minn.)

To sign up for the June 13 webinar on Kernza, click here. These presentations will be recorded for future viewing if you’re not able to make it.
5:30 pm – 7:30 pm: Upper Sioux State Park Land Return Listening Sessions & Planning Forward
Tuesday June 13
5:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Upper Sioux State Park Land Return Listening Sessions & Planning Forward
On April 5,there was a historic town hall meeting in Granite Falls where regional residents and Upper Sioux Community members came together to learn about the Upper Sioux Community’s history, relationship, and desires for the return of the Upper Sioux Agency State Park to the Upper Sioux Community. We also were able to ask questions of Minnesota Department of Natural Resources representatives and local elected officials, as well other community members. A proposal to return the state park land to the Upper Sioux Community was officially passed by the Minnesota Legislature during its recently concluded session.

We were encouraged by how we saw our neighbors respond to this proposal, being for the most part supportive of the return.We also heard how important and precious access to green spaces is to all of us who live here, and that many of us have deep connections and relationships with that park.

Please come and share your stories of connection and relationship to the Upper Sioux Agency State Park; we want to understand and honor our connection to this place and channelour passion for the area. We want to think as a community where we might be able to create new public access acres in the river valley with the funds allocated for replacement.Let’s beready and united to advocate locally for these green acres!

Join us on Tuesday, June 13, and/or Wednesday, June 28, at the Granite Falls Kilowatt Community Center (600 Kilowatt Drive, Granite Falls, MN 5624), from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., for a light meal, and to share our stories and link arms to create new parkland in western Minnesota.

This event is free and open to the public, but food can only be guaranteed for those who register in advance. Please clickhere to register for June 13and/orhere to register for June 28.

Please contact Robin Moore atrmoore@landstewardshipproject.orgor 320-321-5244 if you have any questions.

This event is organized and hosted in partnership with The YES! House with Department of Public Transformation.

Wednesday June 14

11:00 am – 12:00 pm

Forever Green Webinar on Hybrid Winter Rye

Wednesday June 14

11:00 am – 12:00 pm

Forever Green Webinar on Hybrid Winter Rye

The Environmental & Economic Clusters of Opportunity (EECO) grant provides an ecosystem services payment as well as risk management payments to growers enrolled in the program for winter barley, hybrid winter rye, winter camelina, and Kernza. Join us for an introductory webinar series on these four crops where we pair University researchers and Extension professionals with farmers who have trialed these crops on-farm. On June 14, there will be a webinar on hybrid winter rye. Presenters include Jochum Wiersma (UMN Extension small grains agronomist) and Richard Magnusson (farmer, Roseau, Minn.)

To sign-up for the June 14 webinar on hybrid winter rye, click here. These presentations will be recorded for future viewing if you’re not able to make it.

5:30 pm – 7:30 pm

Building Community for Land Access: 'Meeting the African Farming Community'

Wednesday June 14

5:30 pm – 7:30 pm

Building Community for Land Access: 'Meeting the African Farming Community'

We are in a moment where African farmers and gardeners, many who have farmed in their own countries and have been growing in community garden plots here, didn’t believe or know that they could be farming on a larger-scale. Now they are organizing and obtaining practical and financial training to aid in finding land and developing business models that will let them farm collectively in a community (e.g. cooperatives).

We want to make sure that landowners KNOW about these skilled farmers and the work they are doing to provide food to their communities and beyond. They are seeking training in order to farm as a business and want to develop relationships with landowners in order to obtain land access. We also want the wider community to learn about these groups of farmers and think about how they can support African local food producers where they live.

We know that this is a community-building process, and this series offers one way to start. We encourage people to join us for the entire series in order to build strong relationships with other participants! We are planning four sessions: register for the second one below.

June 14, 5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m.: Online gathering where Minnesota landowners and land-seekers have a chance to share their stories and perspectives. You will have an opportunity to learn more about the “other side’s” perspective as landowners and land-seekers. Learn more about the challenges facing beginning farmers around land access as well as how landowners approach finding the next generation on their land. ·

Online: open to everyone, Minnesota focused.
Panel of two to three land-seekers and landowners sharing their stories.
Small groups with mixed landowners and land-seekers sharing their stories and getting to know each other.

Register here.

Friday June 16

1:30 pm – 2:30 pm: LSP Farm Bill Friday: Consolidation
Friday June 16
1:30 pm – 2:30 pm
LSP Farm Bill Friday: Consolidation
This summer, join the Land Stewardship Project for Farm Bill Fridays — a one-hour series of educational webinars to learn about how the Farm Bill impacts many different food system issues, including consolidation, regional food systems, and climate and conservation. During these webinars, you will also have the opportunity to take action to demand a more just and resilient Farm Bill for Us!

Each webinar will focus on a different issue and feature policy experts and LSP farmer-member speakers. Click on dates to register.

June 16 — 1:30 p.m.-2:30 p.m.:Farm Bill Friday focused on Consolidation

June 23 — noon – 1 p.m.: Farm Bill Friday focused on Regional Food Systems

July 14 — noon – 1 p.m.: Farm Bill Friday focused on Climate & Conservation

View Full Calendar