My family and I operate a dairy farm in Goodhue County’s Zumbrota Township in southeastern Minnesota. My father bought our farm in 1942, and I have lived on this land my whole life. My wife, my sister, my brother and I milk cows and raise corn, soybeans and alfalfa. We’re proud of the life we’ve…  Read More →

Dear Senator Klobuchar: In considering whether or not to support the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, I hope you will look beyond the positions of main stream economists who believe in more globalization of economic activity and seek out those economists who think more deeply and comprehensively about economic and social realities and believe in…  Read More →

During a recent Land Stewardship Letter roundtable discussion about Forever Green (see “Forever Green: Relaying Resiliency” blog), eight University of Minnesota graduate students working on the initiative responded to the question, “What excites you most about this research?” New Tools Have Compressed Time • Kevin Dorn has been mapping the genome for pennycress, which holds…  Read More →

On May 21, Neighborhoods Organizing for Change member and Food Justice Leader Selam Yosief joined dozens of others in demanding racial equity in the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board’s (MPRB) Urban Agriculture Activity Plan. “I ask you Park Board to take action tonight and add racial equity into the plan,” said Yosief. Later, she reflected…  Read More →

Minnesota Sands Announces Intentions to Target Fillmore & Winona Counties for More Mining The Minnesota Environmental Quality Board (EQB) made the right decision May 21 by tabling the issue of taking a Houston County mine out of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) ordered on the multi-site Minnesota Sands, LLC, frac sand mining project. Thus, the…  Read More →

A Land Stewardship Project member with decades of experience in agricultural lending has been appointed to the U.S Secretary of Agriculture’s Advisory Committee on Beginning Farmers and Ranchers. Tim Gossman, who is a vice president and commercial and agriculture loan officer at Merchants Bank in St. Charles, Minn., is also a supervisor for the Fillmore…  Read More →

This summer, I was one of 100 people from southeast Minnesota who participated in a meeting hosted by the Land Stewardship Project in Rushford. As someone who’s been paying close attention to the issue of frac sand mining for two years or more, I knew this would be a meeting I couldn’t miss. It was…  Read More →

You’ve probably heard by now that the U.S. House failed to pass a Farm Bill last week. It came as somewhat of a shocker, failing 195 to 234, which is a pretty big margin. It’s the first time since 1973 that the House has voted down a Farm Bill. In what can only be interpreted…  Read More →

This year Minnesota has taken real steps to put people at the center of our health care system. Most recently, Governor Mark Dayton and the Legislature passed a budget that continues and strengthens MinnesotaCare. Thank you for your calls, e-mails and actions—you made a difference. The final Health and Human Services Budget makes MinnesotaCare more…  Read More →

Public comments submitted as part of the environmental review process for two proposed frac sand mines in Winona County overwhelmingly call for officials there to follow the law and order an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). Land Stewardship Project members, other local citizens, state agencies and scientific experts submitted a total of about 75 comments on…  Read More →