During yesterday’s otherwise excellent field day at the USDA’s soil conservation lab in Morris, the “S” word reared its ugly head. “S” as in our best farmland needs to be “sacrificed” in the name of food and fuel production, leaving room for only an odd corner here and there to provide a smattering of natural… Read More →
Dayna is seeking a farmer to rent 70 acres (pasture, tillable and forest) in Spring Grove, MN, Houston County. Pasture and silvopasture available for sheep, poultry and/or cattle plus some tillable land depending on interest in small scale annuals. Dayna’s current focus is on small scale seed production plus brush management goats, which means there… Read More →
As part of our work to help beginning farmers gain access to farmland, the Land Stewardship Project has been working with the Plainview Land Access Organizing Committee in southeast Minnesota. For the past two years, farmers, business owners and others in the agricultural community of Plainview have been meeting to raise awareness of issues beginning… Read More →
The Land Stewardship Project has been spending part of this fall gathering input from members and staff on how we should proceed with our work during the next five years. This development of what we call our “long range plan” has taken the form of member-leader input sessions, staff meetings and a survey sent out… Read More →
Harvey Benson had a simple transition plan for the farm that had been in his family since the late 1860s: he would continue living on those 160 acres until he died, and then it would be passed on to his partner, Bonita Underbakke. In fact, when people ask him if he’s lived on the farm… Read More →
Jan. 15: An LSP Round-up of News Covering Land, People & Communities Bill Gates: America’s Top Farmland Owner (1/15/21) Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and his wife Melinda Gates are now the largest private farmland owners in the U.S., according to The Land Report. Highlights: They have accumulated a massive farmland portfolio — 242,000 acres —… Read More →
On an overcast day in late June, Arlo Hark drives a semi into a gravel parking lot near the southeastern Minnesota community of Rushford pulling a trailer adorned with an “Eat Lamb: 10,000 Coyotes Can’t be Wrong” bumper sticker. He opens two doors on the side of the trailer and 120 lambs and ewes explode… Read More →
Minnesota’s Next Governor Must Take Direct, Concrete Steps The people of Minnesota are beginning to consider what they would like the future of the state to look like in the context of the fall gubernatorial elections. Will they elect Minnesota’s first woman governor? Go “Back to the Future” with a former governor? Select a leader… Read More →
Soil Health Specialists Sound the Alarm on Continuing Soil Erosion (5/9/25) Despite a “Wake-up Call” warning issued a decade ago, wind erosion has continued to significantly damage soil health in North Dakota, according to Agweek. Highlights: Ten years after NDSU soil health expert Dave Franzen issued a report called “Wake-up Call” that highlighted high levels… Read More →
Building healthy soil across Minnesota is key to creating resiliency in the face of a changing climate and is also incredibly important in supporting clean water. We all want clean drinking water for our families and communities. Right now, bills are being heard in the Minnesota Legislature that could affect drinking water throughout the state… Read More →
