Every living thing needs a home — even ginger, tomatoes, and garlic. And southeastern Minnesota farmer Melissa Driscoll sees written contracts as handy and efficient vehicles for getting her produce to their final destination. An extensive use of forward contracts isn’t just good for business — it gives Driscoll the kind of peace of mind… Read More →
Dawn 2 Dusk’s dedication to helping Africans get established on Minnesota soil. More information: • Dawn 2 Dusk Farm • Kilimo Minnesota • LSP’s Farm Beginnings Class • Land Transition Resources • The Food Group/Big River Farms Incubator You can find LSP Ear to the Ground podcast episodes on Spotify, Stitcher, iTunes, and other podcast… Read More →
NOTE: The Land Stewardship Project is saddened to learn that Paul Johnson, a giant in the promotion of working lands conservation on America’s farms, passed away this week. We send our condolences to Paul’s family — he will be sorely missed. Below is an excerpt of a 2020 Land Stewardship Letter article on Paul and… Read More →
For longer than I can remember, my family has taken the same route from our farm in southeast Minnesota to visit my grandparents in north-central Wisconsin. The first leg of the four-hour trip takes us across the Mississippi River and through the farmland, pastures and rolling, wooded hills of Trempealeau and Jackson Counties. The landmarks… Read More →
I coordinate a project in western Minnesota that is based on the idea that producing positive environmental impacts in a watershed can happen without having to remake the entire region’s landscape. Scientific studies and on-the-farm experience suggest that just a 10 percent increase in diverse crop rotations, grasses and other perennial plant systems can be enough to meaningfully improve the safety of the water, reduce flood potential, restore wildlife habitat and stimulate a thriving local and regional foods economy. This is especially true if we can target fields that are particularly sensitive to problems like erosion.
On July 1, the United States Supreme Court delivered a win for local control and a blow to Big Ag when it declined to hear the Iowa Pork Producers Association’s case against a California law that mandates the amount of space livestock animals, in particular hogs, have while being raised. The Iowa Capitol Dispatch explains… Read More →
2025-2026 Farm Beginnings Class LSP is now accepting applications for its 2025-2026 Farm Beginnings class session. For details, click here. ♦ ♦ ♦ By the time Elyssa Eull moved back to Minnesota a few years ago, she already had several years of experience working on vegetable farms. But she felt that in order to successfully… Read More →
DONNELLY, Minn. — As winter winds howled outside, farmers gathered in a machine shed near Donnelly on March 4 to share stories with Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison on how consolidation in everything from livestock markets to ag implement repairs is negatively impacting their operations and communities. The Land Stewardship Project (LSP) meeting was held… Read More →
Note: This is the 5th installment in the 12-part “A Sense of Where You Are” series. Grazing livestock have been described as “combines that poop.” That’s an accurate, if somewhat graphic, depiction of how moving cattle and other animals through well-managed paddocks can rebuild soil that’s been decimated by tillage, chemical use, and compaction. Langdon… Read More →
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — As discussions around the 2023 Farm Bill get off the ground, a key group of people are being asked to share their views on the future of agricultural policy: farmers. During the next several weeks, the Land Stewardship Project (LSP) is circulating the National Young Farmer Survey in Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin in… Read More →
