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 →
NEWBURG TOWNSHIP, Minn. — In a highly unusual move, one of the partners of a proposed massive hog operation has filed a lawsuit in southeastern Minnesota’s Fillmore County asking the District Court to impose a restraining order preventing Newburg Township officials from meeting to adopt a one-year moratorium on new large-scale feedlots and other developments.… Read More →
A streak of creativity brightens the landscape when farmers join forces with scientists to investigate “the standard” of what we thought we already knew. Take, for example, the fresh look at how soil functions—collectively called soil health—that has been the talk of Land Stewardship Project workshops and field days the past five years or so.… Read More →
In the late 1790s and early 1800s, British economist Thomas Robert Malthus used mathematics, the agronomic reality of the day and basic biology to lay out a grim assessment about the future of the planet: we were doomed to an endless cycle of boom and bust. It was inevitable human populations would periodically grow to… Read More →
A number of years ago, long before billionaire provocateur Donald Trump demonized undocumented Mexican workers and called for the erection of a new wall along the southern U.S. border, the Land Stewardship Project began work as an ally for immigrant farmworker rights and immigration reform. Our latest endeavor along these lines is a trip south… Read More →
A drive through Farm Country this winter is a revelatory experience. Revelatory in that the impacts of planting the landscape to monocultures of corn and soybeans and plowing the ground black as soon after harvest as possible are there for all to see. The revealer? All that “snirt” one sees in road ditches across the… Read More →
On April 17, Land Stewardship Project members gathered in Menomonie, Wis., to discuss the challenges they face as beginning farmers seeking land to farm. They also discussed how to shape the initial stages of LSP’s organizing for more affordable, secure land tenure. These farmers shared stories about how skyrocketing land prices are creating a crisis… Read More →
Talk of how agriculture can improve soil quality seems to be popping up more frequently these days. Perhaps the most exciting recent mention was in an issue of Successful Farming magazine, which has produced an impressive package of stories called The Good Earth. Most of what’s in this package won’t be news to anyone who’s… Read More →
Note: This is the 8th installment in the 12-part “A Sense of Where You Are” series. So, here’s a chicken or egg situation to ponder: when launching a farming operation, when should you approach the local NRCS office about applying for funding to set up infrastructure such as a high tunnel or a rotational grazing system?… Read More →
The USDA’s Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) and Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) are essential initiatives that give tens of thousands of farmers the tools they need to implement sustainable practices such as cover cropping and managed rotational grazing. Yet, a significant majority of farmers who apply to these programs are unable to access funding. In 2023, only… Read More →
