While leading a group of natural resource professionals through one of his dairy pastures one early fall day, Martin Jaus made it crystal clear he farms the land for more than a milk check. “Every day we see something that just amazes us,” he said with a smile. “One day I was making hay and… Read More →
When raising crops, tissue and soil sampling are important practices to be used together to determine your nutrient management protocol. Soil testing reveals what nutrients are available in the soil while tissue testing shows a snapshot of nutrients in the plant part at the time of sampling. It is important to utilize both soil and… Read More →
On Monday, Aug. 3, Land Stewardship Project members and local residents gathered at the Stevens County Planning and Zoning public meeting — and because our community showed up, spoke out, and organized together, we won an important step forward. Riverview demonstrated a very organized corporate approach. But our community met that pressure with real people… Read More →
2026-2027 Farm Beginnings Class LSP is now accepting applications for its 2026-2027 Farm Beginnings class session. The application deadline is Sept. 1. For details, click here. ♦ ♦ ♦ It was the winter of 2024-2025, and Frances Kelliher wasn’t exactly in the mood to sit in a room with a lot of idealistic agrarians. She… Read More →
2026-2027 Farm Beginnings Class LSP is now accepting applications for its 2026-2027 Farm Beginnings class session. The application deadline is Sept. 1. For details, click here. ♦ ♦ ♦ Sometimes a shot of reality can inject a sense of urgency into an educational experience. Roughly half-way through their participation in the 2024-2025 winter session of… Read More →
Flooding the Market How Dairy Consolidation is Drowning Minnesota’s Farmers & Rural Communities April 2026 Minnesota is facing a generational crisis in agriculture as dairy farmers are pushed out of the industry at an alarming rate even as production continues to rise. Extreme consolidation, driven in part by the rapid expansion of mega-dairies like Riverview… Read More →
CUMBERLAND, Iowa — Here in southwestern Iowa, it’s the season of the white torpedo. Once it seemed spring wasn’t fake news, pickup trucks began towing to winter-dormant fields tubular tanks of gaseous anhydrous ammonia fertilizer here and in the rest of the Corn Belt. These white cylinders are the harbingers of a new planting season… Read More →
Last year was a tough one for most of us, and, based on recent events, it seems as if there’s little chance of reprieve for folks in agriculture. Farmers and ranchers experienced rising input costs and significant domestic and international market disruptions in 2025. To help address these problems, USDA is issuing $12 billion in… Read More →
This report, created in partnership with the University of Minnesota, describes the findings of an assessment of the Land Stewardship Project’s Soil Health Program. This information was collected in 2024 and 2025 using an online and mail survey of program participants, as well as two focus groups with LSP Soil Hubs in Plainview and Austin,…
Sonja Trom Eayrs was a featured author in LSP’s November 4, 2025 event Big Ag, Big Problems: A Panel on Rural Consolidation. From Trom Eayrs’ website: Dodge County, Incorporated is an engrossing legal drama that recounts the Eayrs family’s three rounds of litigation against public officials in Dodge County, Minnesota, in efforts to prevent a factory… Read More →
