Pack-shed or people? That’s the question Les Macare and Els Dobrick are grappling with on a dank day in mid-March as they brave a biting wind to inspect the garden plots, cover crops, and outbuildings on Racing Heart Farm in western Wisconsin. With the exception of some onions sprouting in one of the hoop houses,… Read More →
Emily Minge began working in LSP’s Policy Department in January 2018 as the coordinator for the Family Farm Breakfast at the Capitol. Following the breakfast, she stayed on staff through the summer of 2018 to support the department’s work fighting the proposed Catalpa factory farm in southeastern Minnesota’s Fillmore County. She then left for the… Read More →
Budget Provides Needed Support for Small & Mid-sized Farms, but Maintains a Corporate-Centered Status Quo in MN Ag Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s two-year budget proposal was released Jan. 26. The Land Stewardship Project (LSP) applauds the measures included in this budget that require the wealthiest individuals and major corporations in our state to contribute their… Read More →
LEWISTON, Minn. — The growing season is winding down for farmers, giving them time to focus on improving and expanding their direct marketing enterprises. Two upcoming online workshops — Dec. 8 and Dec. 10 —for farmers looking to gain skills from experienced direct marketers and take steps to improve their farm profits are being sponsored… Read More →
Madeline Reid joined the Land Stewardship Project in January 2025 as the organization’s first grants specialist. Based in the Minneapolis office, she collaborates with development, program, and finance teams to craft persuasive grant applications and enhance the clarity and efficiency of LSP’s grant stewardship practices. Before joining LSP, Madeline worked with Good Works Grant Writing where she… Read More →
On a warm, overcast day in early fall, a low line of shrubby trees blocks the view of a seemingly empty lot on Penn Avenue, a busy thoroughfare in the Willard-Hay Neighborhood of North Minneapolis. A television with a cracked screen lays in some weeds at the edge of the lot, a reminder that if… Read More →
During the recently concluded session of the Minnesota Legislature, Land Stewardship Project members and partners worked to win record investments in sustainable and regenerative agriculture, small and mid-sized farmers, and rural communities after decades of underfunding. We won a MinnesotaCare Public Option, as well as historic investments in the Emerging Farmers Office at the Minnesota… Read More →
Smaller doesn’t always mean simpler. Consider Cella Langer and Emmet Fisher’s foray into being a Grade A micro-dairy — one that produces, processes, packages, markets, and sells pasteurized milk and yogurt. In a state that has lost 40,000 dairy farms in the past four decades, they are a tiny push in the opposite direction. How… Read More →
SAINT PAUL, Minn. — Three Minnesota farm groups are applauding Governor Tim Walz’s budget proposals for the Minnesota Department of Agriculture and Board of Water and Soil Resources, which were released this week. The proposals strongly align with the vision for a thriving, abundant, and resilient countryside shared by the Land Stewardship Project (LSP), Hmong… Read More →
Livestock producer Eric Klein of Hidden Stream Farm describes why and how his family launched its own meat processing business. It’s been a financial and logistical challenge, but a few years down the road it’s already producing benefits for their farm as well as the local community. If you’re thinking of getting into small-scale meat… Read More →
