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Make Your Voice Heard at Upcoming NRCS-SWCD Meetings

Help determine what your local conservation programs prioritize by sharing your story.

By Alex Kiminski
June 3, 2025

Citizens, community members, landowners — do you have local natural resource concerns? Do you want to share your ideas, voice your opinions, or ask questions about how your local conservation programs are addressing these issues? Your local offices of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) want to…  Read More →

Hopping into the Lunch Line

LSP & Hutchinson Public School Host Legislators & Local Officials for a Farm to School Meal to Show the Program in Action

By Laura Schreiber
May 7, 2025

On April 15, the Land Stewardship Project saw farmers, community members, agency staffers, nonprofit folks, legislators, school district staff, and champions of Farm to School engage in this farm-to-fork initiative in the most hands-on way possible — by breaking bread together over school lunch trays at the Hutchinson High School. This diverse group of people…  Read More →

LSP Legislative Update: Proposals Related to Local Food, Land Access & Soil Health Moving Forward

Budget Issues Loom Large as Regular Session Heads into Final Weeks

By Laura Schreiber 
April 8, 2025

As we pass a key date in the 2025 Minnesota legislative calendar, several initiatives supported by the Land Stewardship Project remain alive and are moving through the committee process. In order to be considered as part of an omnibus bill, the majority of proposed legislation had to be heard in both the House and Senate…  Read More →

community holding signs against factory farms

LSP Applauds State Supreme Court’s Rejection of Daley Appeal

Ruling Comes After Yearslong Attempt to Circumvent Winona County’s Local Rules Related to CAFOs 

March 19, 2025

LEWISTON, Minn. —  The Land Stewardship Project (LSP) applauded the Minnesota Supreme Court’s recent decision to deny a Winona County factory farm owner’s attempt to circumvent Winona County’s rules governing the size of livestock operations. On March 18, Chief Justice Natalie Hudson announced that the Court would not hear an appeal filed by Daley Farm…  Read More →

Sign-On to Support New Farmers on the Land

Tell Lawmakers We Need Changes to the MN Down Payment Assistance Grant

February 18, 2025

Between 2012 and 2022, Minnesota lost 9,011 farms — on average 900 farms per year. During that same period, the average size of a Minnesota farm went from 349 acres to 388 acres. The average age of Minnesota farmers has reached an all-time high of 57.1 years. Ninety-nine percent of all farmland in Minnesota is…  Read More →

A Sense of Where You Are: Forest for the Trees

Part 5 in a Series

By Brian DeVore
January 17, 2025

Note: This is the 5th installment in the 12-part “A Sense of Where You Are” series.  Grazing livestock have been described as “combines that poop.” That’s an accurate, if somewhat graphic, depiction of how moving cattle and other animals through well-managed paddocks can rebuild soil that’s been decimated by tillage, chemical use, and compaction. Langdon…  Read More →

A Sense of Where You Are: The Big Picture

Part 9 in a Series

By Brian DeVore
January 13, 2025

Note: This is the 9th installment in the 12-part “A Sense of Where You Are” series.  When someone calls Matthew Fitzgerald for advice about getting into organic crop production, the central Minnesota farmer’s first response is a question of his own: “Do you own a fishing boat?” If they say yes, Fitzgerald then recommends they sell…  Read More →

Oats & The 3-Legged Stool of Farm Resiliency

This Humble Grain Represents One Commonsense Approach to Diversifying the Landscape

By Shea-Lynn Ramthun
November 16, 2024

In case you haven’t noticed, the humble oat is having a bit of a moment. After decades of declines in oat plantings in Minnesota, acreage increased this year. Market demand for the small grain is up, a group of farmers are attempting to pull together funding for a major processing plant in southern Minnesota, and…  Read More →

The Fifth R

A 'Generational Urban Farmer' Looks to Build Community Resilience

By Brian DeVore
June 11, 2024

On a warm, overcast day in early fall, a low line of shrubby trees blocks the view of a seemingly empty lot on Penn Avenue, a busy thoroughfare in the Willard-Hay Neighborhood of North Minneapolis. A television with a cracked screen lays in some weeds at the edge of the lot, a reminder that if…  Read More →

Ear to the Ground 313: Walking & Talking

A pasture walk on the Nikki and Cody Meyer farm shows the value of farmer-to-farmer learning.  More Information • LSP’s Soil Health & Grazing Web Page • LSP’s 2023 Field Day Special Report: “A Long, Hot Summer” • Nikki Meyer’s Grazing YouTube Page • LSP’s 2023 Pasture Walk Schedule You can find LSP Ear to…  Read More →