Land Stewardship Project Sees Bill as Important Step for Getting More Beginning Farmers on the Land SAINT PAUL, Minn.—A bill moving through the Minnesota Legislature would help beginning farmers overcome one of the biggest barriers they face when trying to launch an agricultural business: access to land. According to farmer-members of the Land Stewardship Project… Read More →
While walking a piece of North Dakota landscape under a withering summer sun, one’s thoughts turn to moisture—or rather, the lack of it. So when I and other participants in a soil health tour kicked up signs of cool, shady places while traipsing across a hay field, it seemed like a mirage. Green-and-black leopard frogs… Read More →
Since the 2023 session of the Minnesota Legislature ended last May, Land Stewardship Project members have been celebrating our historic wins and preparing to build upon them during the 2024 session, which begins Monday, Feb. 12. This past summer and fall, LSP organizers engaged in hundreds of one-to-one and group conversations with LSP members, supporters,… Read More →
While recording a recent LSP podcast interview with southwest Minnesota farmer Carmen Fernholz, I was reminded of how important it is that farmers identify closely with the land they’re producing a livelihood from. As Fernholz put it: “If you’re a good farmer you can’t help but become attached to the land. And when you become… Read More →
When I first moved to Minnesota eight years ago, my knowledge of soils and agricultural systems was purely textbook. I live and work in an amazing community that has taught me more than I ever expected to learn, and has pulled back the curtain on our current farming systems and the ways in which they… Read More →
Our federal elected officials finally seem to be getting serious about passing much-needed comprehensive immigration reform in Washington, D.C. That’s good. It is also important to note there’s a very important immigrant worker rights issue that needs to be addressed right here and right now in rural Minnesota. No new laws need to be passed,… Read More →
Robin Moore talks about how LSP is using soil health to forge stewardship partnerships between non-operating landowners and the farmers who rent from them.
For more resources on how to develop farmland leases that reflect your stewardship values, click here.
A Pioneering Organic Operation, a Trial Run, & the Next Generation Black, ominous clouds were approaching fast, and Luke Peterson was in a bit of a panic as he stood next to his tractor parked in an 80-acre soybean field, scanning the sky. Hooked up to that tractor was a rotary hoe, and before this… Read More →
Thousands of Land Stewardship Project members and supporters from across Minnesota came together during the 2021 session of the state Legislature and organized around our shared values. Together, we mobilized around a collective vision that includes a just food and farm system, a healthy landscape, thriving small and mid-sized farms, just and prosperous communities, and… Read More →
How Indiana is using cover cropping and early adopters as ‘gateways’ into a deeper understanding of sustainable soil management. It’s an overcast August morning in northeastern Indiana, and in a massive machine shed well stocked with the tools of a modern row crop operation, some 60 farmers are being reminded that growing corn and soybeans… Read More →
