Note: LSP’s next Farm Transition Planning Course will begin meeting Jan. 27, 2026. For details and information on how to enroll, click here. Sometimes a successful farm transition requires a shoulder season — a period when the current owners are still present, still have their hands in the soil, so to speak, but the newbies… Read More →
During yesterday’s otherwise excellent field day at the USDA’s soil conservation lab in Morris, the “S” word reared its ugly head. “S” as in our best farmland needs to be “sacrificed” in the name of food and fuel production, leaving room for only an odd corner here and there to provide a smattering of natural… Read More →
When Minnesota lawmakers return to Saint Paul Feb. 17 for the start of the next state legislative session, Land Stewardship Project’s members and organizers will be active in pushing forward our values and priorities. Before we go into what issues we will be focusing on in 2026, I’d like to provide some political context and… Read More →
Jan. 29: An LSP Round-up of News Covering Land, People & Communities After COVID-related Livestock Kills, a Push to Diversify Meat Processing in Minnesota (1/25/21) When several large pork processing plants shuttered last spring because workers got sick with COVID-19, it had a huge impact on farmers across the Midwest. One estimate is more than… Read More →
Note: On March 2, Minnesota Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Aric Putnam invited agricultural groups to share insights on their members’ concerns, frustrations, and current work in a special “State of Agriculture” hearing at the capitol. Below is the testimony shared by Laura Schreiber, the Land Stewardship Project’s government relations director, with the Agriculture, Veterans, Broadband,… Read More →
Paul is seeking a farmer to buy his 207 acre farm outside of Lake City, Minnesota. The farm is set up for sustainable grazing for beef production. There are 25 paddocks with water. Grass-based beef products have been produced since 2008. Outbuildings include a calving barn, loafing area, machine shed and pole shed. There is… Read More →
The temperature hovers a few degrees above zero and fresh snow swirls around their feet as Bryan Crigler and Katelyn Foerster bend into a fierce wind and head into a stand of walnut trees on a recent January day. In contrast to the wild woods, neat rows of ironwood logs are leaning on wires amidst… Read More →
Note: The Land Stewardship Project’s Ear to the Ground podcast recently featured an interview with Marvin Johnson, a Minnesota farmer and president of the Alumni Association for the School of Agriculture at the University of Minnesota. Johnson discussed the history and the future of the Endowed Chair in Agricultural Systems. For three decades, the Endowed… Read More →
‘Farming in the dark’: Brooke Rollins’ Leadership, DOGE’s Grip and the Cost to American Agriculture (7/22/25) According to Investigate Midwest, during her first six months in office U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins has brought sweeping changes to USDA and largely embraced President Donald Trump’s agenda of downsizing the federal government. Mass firings have purged… Read More →
Minnesota Sands Announces Intentions to Target Fillmore & Winona Counties for More Mining The Minnesota Environmental Quality Board (EQB) made the right decision May 21 by tabling the issue of taking a Houston County mine out of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) ordered on the multi-site Minnesota Sands, LLC, frac sand mining project. Thus, the… Read More →
