On the campaign trail, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris communicated clear priorities to address the needs of agriculture and rural communities, including: strengthening regional food systems and anti-trust enforcement, expanding conservation programs with a focus on soil health and carbon sequestration, increasing microloans for beginning farmers, and advancing racial justice and accountability… Read More →
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 →
Big Ag and its friends in Congress hope to send more money into the pockets of a few mega-sized commodity farms through one of the most popular commodity programs in the Farm Bill — crop insurance. This windfall will be at the expense of working lands conservation programs and small and mid-sized farms. Their proposal… Read More →
Last week, the “Increasing Land Access, Security, and Opportunities (LASO) Act” was introduced in the U.S. Senate, championed by Minnesota Senator Tina Smith. If enacted, this innovative bill, via the 2023 Farm Bill, would fund powerful, community-led solutions to the land access crisis faced by the new generation of young and Black farmers, Indigenous farmers, and… Read More →
Citizens Call on Court to Hold County Board Accountable for Rubber-stamping Factory Farm Permit ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Minnesota Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments Thursday, Sept. 21, in a case that could determine the human health and environmental safety of a southeastern Minnesota township. In February, farmers and other rural residents from… Read More →
This winter, when you reach for a nice, perfectly-shaped tomato in the produce section of your local supermarket, think of Lucas Mariano Domingo. For two and a half years the Guatemalan lived in the back of a windowless box truck with three other men while he picked tomatoes in the fields surrounding the Florida community… Read More →
• An online version of the Land Stewardship Letter is here. • A downloadable pdf version is here. • Archived pdf versions of the Land Stewardship Letter are here. • Archived online versions of the Land Stewardship Letter are here. • Paper copies are available by contacting Brian DeVore at 612-816-9342 or via e-mail. Table of Contents Stewardship Roots…3 •… Read More →
Outraged Farmers Blame Ag Monopolies as Catastrophic Collapse Looms (9/9/25) Farm Journal describes a tumultuous meeting in Brookland, Ark., where 400-plus farmers met with field representatives from the offices of U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, U.S. Sen. John Boozman, and U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford, along with a representative sent by Gov. Sarah Sanders. The farmers raised… Read More →
In my experience, few learning experiences are more motivating to me than the ones that help us see the connections around us, empowering us to make more of a difference than we thought possible. I see this a lot in my work with non-operating farmland owners via their enthusiasm to learn about soil health, farming… Read More →
One day in 2014, a man stopped by Bill and Bonnie McMillin’s farm tucked away in the hills of southeastern Minnesota’s Wabasha County and offered to pay cash for all 160 acres, lock, stock and barrel. Such an offer can be tempting. After all, Bill and Bonnie had worked hard over the previous few decades… Read More →
