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 →
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 →
In a win for the people and the land of southeastern Minnesota’s Winona County, the Minnesota Court of Appeals has declined to take up an appeal case that was brought forward by a large dairy attempting to expand well beyond an existing animal unit cap. This comes after years of neighbor-to-neighbor action and public engagement… Read More →
Sometimes one has to lose something to gain an appreciation for just how valuable an asset it was. That thought came to mind during the last hearing of the 48-year-old Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Citizens’ Board, which was held June 23 in Saint Paul. It was the last hearing because just a few weeks prior… 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 →
Alan Jostock uses the kind of diversity that builds soil health as a kind of insurance policy for his farm. That means meshing his crop and livestock enterprises in a way that they prop each other up through thick and thin. More Information • Jan. 27, 2026, LSP Workshop — “Beyond Exports: Rebuilding Local Markets”… Read More →
Seth Kuhl-Stennes joined LSP’s staff as an operations specialist in May 2024. In this position, he supports LSP’s day-to-day needs in the areas of facilities, technology, finance, and administration. Seth is the organization’s lead on IT and facilities project coordination. Prior to joining LSP’s team, he had worked for 15+ years in customer/client service and… Read More →
Owl Bluff Farm is tucked away in one of those Driftless Area coulees where cellular signals go to die. In fact, when contractors were constructing a building there recently, they sometimes climbed half-way up an abandoned silo on the farm to use their phones. It has a sense of being an isolated, if beautiful, little… Read More →
At the Land Stewardship Project, among member-leaders and staff, we’ve been thinking more about our work in the context of economic, racial, and gender equity in this country, and how that relates to core values of LSP, like stewardship, justice, community, democracy, and health. Land Stewardship Project’s board is meeting this week to give a… Read More →
SAINT PAUL, Minn. — As traditional local foods and direct-to-consumer markets have become increasingly saturated, a number of farmers and buyers in Minnesota are working together to re-shape the local foods economy. The Land Stewardship Project’s (LSP) Farm Viability Steering Committee is offering an “Innovative Markets Forum” on Thursday, March 7, from 4 p.m. to… Read More →
