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2024 Minnesota Legislative Session Wrap-Up 

Soil Health, Water Quality, Emerging Farmers, Regional Foods Supported; Factory Farm Controls Stall; Stage Set for 2025

By LSP’s Policy Team
May 20, 2024

As the clock struck midnight on Sunday, the Minnesota Legislature concluded its 2024 session. During the past few months, lawmakers primarily focused on revenue-neutral policy changes and some targeted funding of specific programs. During the session, Land Stewardship Project members made some progress on advancing our priorities and built a strong foundation to hit the…  Read More →

Nitrate’s Season of Reckoning

Ag Pollution in Karst Country Offers a Critical Opportunity for Soil-Friendly Farming

By Brian DeVore
January 20, 2024

For residents of southeastern Minnesota, the past few months must seem like “The Season of the Nitrate.” It turns out nitrogen, that critical source of crop fertility, is quite adept at escaping our farm fields, and, in the form of nitrate, polluting groundwater. So much so that scientists, government officials, and physicians now recognize it…  Read More →

Beginning Farmer Program for MN, WI & IA Accepting Applications for 2023-2024 Course

Early Bird Discount Deadline for Farm Beginnings Class Aug. 1

July 17, 2023

LEWISTON, Minn. — One of the most successful beginning farmer training programs in the country is now accepting applications for its 2023-2024 course session serving the Minnesota, western Wisconsin and northern Iowa region. The Land Stewardship Project’s (LSP) Farm Beginnings initiative is a training program that focuses on the goal-setting, marketing and financial skills aneeded to establish…  Read More →

LSP Applauds MDA’s Plan to Seek Input on Socioeconomic Impact of Large-scale Dairies

Online Public Meetings July 28; Written Input Due Oct. 1

July 22, 2026

MORRIS, Minn. — The Land Stewardship Project (LSP) is applauding the Minnesota Department of Agriculture’s (MDA) recent announcement that it will be seeking public input on the socioeconomic impact of large-scale dairies in the state. Information will be gathered through two virtual meetings (noon to 1 p.m., and 7:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m.) on Tuesday, July 28, as…  Read More →

How Farmworker Wage Theft Bankrupts Our Rural Communities

By Brian DeVore
May 3, 2013

A few years ago LSP organizer Doug Nopar was told of a southeast Minnesota farm operation that was withholding wages from a worker after he had accidentally damaged a door with a skid steer loader. Nopar called the farm owner and let him know this action was quite illegal. The farmer’s response? “You know, I…  Read More →

LSP’s 2021 MN Legislative Priorities

By Amanda Koehler
January 4, 2021

For months, Land Stewardship Project members have been preparing to hit the ground running during the 2021 Minnesota legislative session to advance rural economic justice across the countryside. The 2021 session begins Tuesday, Jan. 5, and we need you with us. When we come together across zip codes, class, gender, and race, united in our…  Read More →

LSP’s 2021 MN Legislative Priorities

By Amanda Koehler
January 4, 2021

For months, Land Stewardship Project members have been preparing to hit the ground running during the 2021 Minnesota legislative session to advance rural economic justice across the countryside. The 2021 session begins Tuesday, Jan. 5, and we need you with us. When we come together across zip codes, class, gender, and race, united in our…  Read More →

BFRDP: Making the Most of Public Support for Beginning Farmer Education

By Megan Buckingham
June 3, 2015

The Land Stewardship Project today released our latest report on grants allocated through the USDA’s Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (BFRDP). This is the fifth such report we’ve done in collaboration with the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC). These analyses are a measure of the success of BFRDP in providing public support for effective…  Read More →

Land Line: Riverview, Community Foods, State Farm Bills, Avian Flu, Nitrogen Fertilizer, Glyphosate & Cancer, MCOOL

By Brian DeVore (editor)
March 22, 2026

Proposed Dairy in Morris Would Become Minnesota’s Largest Feedlot (3/16/26) The Minnesota Star Tribune reports on a proposal to create the largest livestock operation in Minnesota. Highlights: Riverview LLP, the state’s largest milk producer, has applied for permits to build the single largest dairy and feedlot in the state’s history by expanding one of its…  Read More →

Land Line: Invisible Hand, Price-Fixing, Oat Mafia, Bird Flu, Profitable Conservation, SNAP, Compost, Farm Subsidizers

By Brian DeVore (editor)
May 12, 2025

The Invisible Hand, Elasticity, and the Vanishing Farmer (5/7/25) Writing on the AGDAILY website, farmer and international consultant Ben Henson describes how the traditional building blocks of the American agricultural economy are being undermined by unprecedented consolidation in farming. Highlights: One basis of economic theory is “inelastic” versus “elastic” demand for products. Food is considered…  Read More →