There is less than one month left in the 2024 Minnesota legislative session. This week, the House and Senate are finalizing and passing their separate omnibus policy and supplemental budget bills, which will then be sent to conference committees where differences between the proposals will be hammered out. This session, the Land Stewardship Project has… Read More →
Southeast Minnesota citizens traveled to Saint Paul yesterday and presented copies of the People’s EIS Scoping Report to each of the state agency commissioners and citizen members who make up Minnesota’s Environmental Quality Board (EQB). Land Stewardship Project organizer Johanna Rupprecht made these comments to the EQB after the report was delivered to the EQB… Read More →
At the Minnesota State Fair yesterday, Governor Mark Dayton made it clear that he supports a ban on frac sand mining and processing in southeast Minnesota. During an appearance at Minnesota Public Radio’s fair booth, the Governor brought the issue up in response to a question about fracking and energy policy. During his State Fair… Read More →
For residents of southeastern Minnesota, the past few months must seem like “The Season of the Nitrate.” It turns out nitrogen, that critical source of crop fertility, is quite adept at escaping our farm fields, and, in the form of nitrate, polluting groundwater. So much so that scientists, government officials, and physicians now recognize it… 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 →
Land Stewardship Project members sat down with Governor Mark Dayton for an hour last Wednesday to talk frac sand. Meeting in the River Room at Winona State University, the eight of us were surrounded by pictures of the Mississippi River from the turn-of-the- century featuring the bluffs of the region—a reminder of the uniqueness of… Read More →
This summer, I was one of 100 people from southeast Minnesota who participated in a meeting hosted by the Land Stewardship Project in Rushford. As someone who’s been paying close attention to the issue of frac sand mining for two years or more, I knew this would be a meeting I couldn’t miss. It was… Read More →
Gov. Dayton, my name is Bob Christie and I have lived and farmed in Winona County for my entire life. My wife Marilyn and I have three daughters and seven grandchildren. We farm 320 acres, of which 215 acres are tillable, with the balance being rolling pastureland and woodland. We raise corn, beans, alfalfa and… Read More →
Land Stewardship Project members believe that the kind of agricultural system and democracy we have is up to us. Our members are the experts when it comes to their communities and farms and, together, we can and must make regenerative agriculture the norm, rather than the exception. We believe our public institutions exist to serve the… Read More →
Ready for the Next Step (part 1) Jon Kaiser is less than a year away from paying off his Farm Beginnings livestock loan. He smiles when he says this, because it means he’s just a little bit closer to making farming more than just a fantasy. “I’m surprised I’ve come this far,” says the 35-year-old… Read More →
