When it comes to the crop insurance sweepstakes, southwest Minnesota farmer Darwyn Bach is a winner. But he concedes that his good fortune presents a quandary, since the way the program is implemented these days creates significant losers: the soil, beginning farmers and Main Street businesses that suffer when the number of families in a… 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 →
One winter evening in 1999 I was sitting in on a Farm Beginnings class being held in the southeast Minnesota community of Plainview when a local banker stood up and made a statement that about knocked me out of my chair. “We need to eat our own cooking,” said the banker, Dean Harrington. The statement… Read More →
When a business closes in a rural community, the following 24 months or so are key. Whether it be a farm, small town grocery or repair shop, if the real estate it occupied is still lacking a day-to-day human presence a year or two down the road, it sends a troubling message about the future… Read More →
There are numerous ways of communicating the value society places on having more family farmers on the land, not fewer. This morning, the USDA announced it was awarding $18 million in grants to groups that are helping beginning farmers nationwide. That sends an important message that the federal government, thanks to initiatives put in the… Read More →
The Land Stewardship Project is excited to gather again to build a vision for our region’s food system at the 2026 Western Minnesota Food Forum on Monday, Feb. 23, in Morris, Minn. The Western Minnesota Food Forum brings together local food advocates to listen, learn, and coordinate around local food market opportunities in western Minnesota.…
Sonja Trom Eayrs was a featured author in LSP’s November 4, 2025 event Big Ag, Big Problems: A Panel on Rural Consolidation. From Trom Eayrs’ website: Dodge County, Incorporated is an engrossing legal drama that recounts the Eayrs family’s three rounds of litigation against public officials in Dodge County, Minnesota, in efforts to prevent a factory… Read More →
Kernza is a form of intermediate wheatgrass, a distant cousin of wheat that was introduced to this country over a century ago as a forage crop. Over the years, groups like the The Land Institute have been working with the University of Minnesota’s Forever Green Initiative to develop a line of Kernza that can produce… Read More →
One farmer says he benefits from grazing publicly-managed wildlife habitat. But what does a natural resource professional think about bringing bovines into a natural biome? More Information • Hoosier Ridge Ranch • LSP’s Grazing & Soil Health Web page • MN DNR Whitewater Wildlife Management Area You can find LSP Ear to the Ground podcast… Read More →
From crunching the numbers to developing relationships with public and private landowners, Eric Heins of Hoosier Ridge Ranch isn’t afraid to question the status quo when it comes to grazing livestock. More Information • Hoosier Ridge Ranch • LSP’s Grazing & Soil Health Web page You can find LSP Ear to the Ground podcast episodes… Read More →
