Policy Changes & Market Support Could Help State Become Leader in Carbon Farming MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — Farming systems that build healthy soil by keeping the land covered in vegetation year-round have the potential to lower the net greenhouse gas emissions produced by Minnesota’s crops and livestock by as much as 30% while cutting nitrogen pollution… Read More →
How One Farm’s Focus on Soil Health Helped Make Row-Cropping Viable…& Fun The economic benefits of building soil health are a balancing act between immediate payoff and delayed gratification. In an ideal situation, the source of those quick profits will set the foundation for a longer-term investment that pays dividends. For example, Dawn and Grant… 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 →
Note: Land Stewardship Project member Jim VanDerPol raises crops and livestock on Pastures a Plenty Farm near Kerkhoven in western Minnesota. He recently wrote this commentary expressing his opinions on the farm financial crisis for his own blog, and has given permission to re-post it here. Farmer suicide is on an uptrend. Some would call… Read More →
Pulling Together. Moving Forward. Stand with LSP on the Farm Crisis. The pain of this crisis is not being felt by agribusiness and corporate interests that continue to make profits at the expense of farmers and rural communities. The fact is that there is money in agriculture, but farmers are not getting a fair share… Read More →
NOTE: On Sept. 7, 2019, 37 Land Stewardship Project member-farmers and leaders came together in St. Peter, Minn., to discuss direct ways of addressing the current farm crisis. Below is the statement these members developed as a guideline on how to move forward to address this crisis: A Real Farm Crisis Farmers are facing an… Read More →
NOTE: On Sept. 7, 2019, 37 Land Stewardship Project member-farmers and leaders came together in St. Peter, Minn., to discuss direct ways of addressing the current farm crisis. Below is the statement these members developed as a guideline on how to move forward to address this crisis: A Real Farm Crisis Farmers are facing an… Read More →
Proposed NAFTA Replacement Benefits Corporate Ag at the Expense of Family Farmers WASHINGTON, D.C. — Farm country is in the midst of a crisis and a proposed trade deal poses the risk of making things even worse. That was one of the key messages Minnesota farmers took to Washington, D.C., earlier this month during meetings… Read More →
Earlier this week, at the World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wis., U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue made the following remarks in regard to the economic crisis facing many small and mid-sized farmers, especially dairy farmers: “In America, the big get bigger and the small go out. I don’t think in America we, for any… Read More →
A Shared Threat Prompts a Shared Vision for a New Farm As the land auction progressed, it looked like the parcel was on its way to exchanging hands at a decent price. But the landowner grew increasingly anxious about the guy who was likely to get the highest bid—he was a well-known owner of large-scale… Read More →
