For the past year the Land Stewardship Project and our allies have been organizing to make sure Minnesota moves forward, not backward, under the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare). It’s clear that our current health care system is failing working people across the state—including urban people, rural people and farmers. In fact, lack of access to…  Read More →

Reimagining Farm Policy that Puts People, Communities & the Land First The energy has been incredible. Over the past two months the federal policy team at the Land Stewardship Project has been holding Farm Bill listening meetings in Minnesota to discuss the upcoming 2018 Farm Bill. The central question has been: “What would make the…  Read More →

Many small and medium-size farms are trying to survive by selling meats directly to retail customers and restaurants. The idea shows promise as a way to revitalize an economy otherwise in the shadow of huge farming enterprises. We need slaughterhouses; several good, new up-to-date buildings should be placed throughout the state to serve the growing…  Read More →

With knowledge comes power—as well as responsibility. On an overcast Saturday in July 2014 several dozen people were gaining more of the former with each step they took through rolling grassland in west-central Minnesota. And as they referred to field guides and smart phone nature apps while tallying a growing list of plant and animal…  Read More →

One recent August day, I stood in a field in North Dakota watching soil being spaded up and listening to farmers talk about the optimal cover crop seeding mixes, how long to mob graze a paddock and which no-till equipment does the best job of cutting through last year’s plant residue. It was 90 degrees…  Read More →

The Land Stewardship Project today released our latest report on grants allocated through the USDA’s Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (BFRDP). This is the fifth such report we’ve done in collaboration with the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC). These analyses are a measure of the success of BFRDP in providing public support for effective…  Read More →

When Words Matter…& When They Don’t When it comes to farming, “regenerative” is having a bit of a moment. For example, Cargill wants to help farmers convert 10 million acres of row crop farmland to “regenerative practices,” and General Mills has said it is committed to advancing “regenerative agriculture practices” on a million acres of…  Read More →