UTICA, Minn. — Over 100 family farmers and rural residents gathered in Utica May 11 to discuss federal agricultural policy reforms during a special Land Stewardship Project (LSP) meeting with U.S. Rep. Tim Walz. Participants in the meeting made it clear that the 2018 Farm Bill needs to support family farms, conservation, beginning farmers and… Read More →
Our work to stop the bills that would weaken local control in Minnesota have had an impact. On March 20, the state Senate version of the bill that would weaken local control was scheduled to be heard on the Senate Floor. Shortly before the Senate went into session, bill proponents pulled it from the day’s… Read More →
“The reinsurance bill passed today by the Minnesota House and Senate gives $542 million of public money to insurance companies, but it does not give certainty or stability to rural Minnesotans who need affordable health care,” said Mark Schultz, Executive Director of the Land Stewardship Project. “The farmers and other rural members of the Land… Read More →
County Staff Denied Citizens Access to Permit Application & Push For Approval ZUMBROTA TOWNSHIP, Minn. — Neighbors to a controversial factory hog farm proposed in Goodhue County’s Zumbrota Township have learned that the proposal clearly violates the county standards required to obtain a Conditional Use Permit. Without this permit, the project cannot be built. Despite… Read More →
CALEDONIA, Minn. — Building soil health and integrating cover crops on area farming operations is the focus of a Land Stewardship Project (LSP) workshop Wednesday, Feb. 15, at the Good Times Restaurant in Caledonia (118 Bissen Street). The keynote speaker is Dr. Kristine Nichols, chief scientist at the Rodale Institute and an internationally known soil… Read More →
For an artist, it’s always nice to get a little public recognition—it helps make up for all those hours spent alone in the studio. So when Deborah Foutch’s piece, “Soil Horizon,” won a blue ribbon at the Minnesota State Fair in 2015, she was thrilled. But even more exciting was that the artwork—it uses various… Read More →
NOTE: At the Land Stewardship Project’s event celebrating the passage of the Winona County frac sand ban in southeastern Minnesota, LSP Winona County Organizing Committee members reflected on their involvement and the work that went into organizing the successful campaign for a ban. Committee member Cathy Groebner of St. Charles, Minn., gave these remarks at… Read More →
“What? Did you sell your cows?!?” This was the response from my neighbor, who had stopped by several years ago after seeing my pasture covered with 2.5-foot-tall grass. “I have never seen this pasture with grass longer than a golf green in nearly 30 years; you must have sold the cows!” This is a good… Read More →
This spring, a marketing firm hired by WEC Energy Group stopped by our farm a number of times. They wanted us to sign an agreement allowing an Environmental Impact Statement to be done so that a natural gas pipeline could be laid through our front field. We worried that all the work that we had… Read More →
The Star Tribune newspaper recently ran an in-depth series of articles about the environmental risks faced by our Minnesota waterways, focusing on the Upper Mississippi, the Red River and the Chippewa River. The last article in the series highlighted the Land Stewardship Project’s work related to the Chippewa 10% Project, which is helping farmers and… Read More →
