CROW LAKE TOWNSHIP, Minn. — It’s early November, and Grass Lake in Stearns County’s Crow Lake Township is peaceful, lined with cattails bending in the breeze and a few ducks and geese watching for winter’s arrival. But if things had gone differently a few months ago, neighbors could have been seeing, hearing, smelling, and feeling… Read More →
This is the first in a three-part series titled “Farming on Stolen Land.” These three episodes were developed by LSP staff member Elizabeth Makarewicz as a guide to exploring issues of native justice and equity in Minnesota’s food system. This first episode seeks to answer the question, “What does it mean to be a non-indigenous person living on native land?” Elizabeth’s interviewee, Nora Murphy, attempts to answer this question in her book, White Birch, Red Hawthorn.
LSP Urges MN Farmers to Check Out Working Lands Conservation Program Improvements this Spring SAINT PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota farmers can now submit initial 2019 applications for the nation’s two premier working lands conservation initiatives: the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) and its cost share partner, the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). While applicants can apply… Read More →
In 2012, I had the great fortune to get a tip about a group of farmers, scientists and government soil conservationists who had teamed up in south-central North Dakota to take a holistic approach to making the land more resilient. By focusing intensively on building soil health utilizing a combination of practices—no-till, managed rotational grazing,… Read More →
Research is Developing Crops that Help Farmers Profitably Clean up Water SAINT PAUL, Minn. — Bills have been introduced in the Minnesota House and Senate that would fully fund the University of Minnesota’s Forever Green Initiative, a program employing cutting-edge research focused on developing cover cropping and perennial plant systems that keep the land covered… Read More →
I “care for” 50 acres of certified organic cropland east of Caledonia in southeastern Minnesota. Although small in acreage, I am intent upon building back my soil using alternative farming practices like roller-crimping winter rye and spring-seeding rye before soybeans. I’d like to share some insights I’ve gathered while figuring out how to implement these… Read More →
‘Our Farm Bill’ Campaign Concludes for Now The membership of the Land Stewardship Project (LSP) launched the “Our Farm Bill” campaign in 2016 as an ambitious grassroots effort of family farmers, rural communities and urban allies to change the direction of federal policy. It was a campaign based on the vision that our public policy… Read More →
Do you own farmland and want to make sure it is taken care of using good stewardship practices? A series of “Managing for Stewardship” workshops will be held in Minnesota during January and February. These workshops are for farmland owners, retired farm men and women, those inheriting a farmland investment and farmers who would like… Read More →
Bill Contains Some LSP Priorities, but Overall Federal Ag Policy Remains in Major Need of Reform MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — The membership of the Land Stewardship Project (LSP) launched its “Our Farm Bill” campaign in 2017 to advocate for a Farm Bill that worked for people and the land. This vision called for a change in… Read More →
ROCHESTER, Minn. — Are you a farmer or landowner thinking about the next steps for your farm and the legacy you would like to leave on the land? The Land Stewardship Project’s Farm Transition Planning Workshop Series provides an opportunity to reflect on the future as well as to do some active planning. The workshop… Read More →
