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A Graphic View of Diversity’s Power

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but a good infographic can be the equivalent of thousands of pounds of soil. That thought occurred to me recently while viewing the cool illustration below. Produced by scientists who are studying the effects of adding some targeted diversity to row-cropped fields in central Iowa, it tells…  Read More

Retiring Farmers & Landowners

“As a landowner, you have the power to determine the legacy of your land- that decision is the most important decision you can make.” — Bill McMillin dairy/ beef farmer who, with his wife Bonnie, transitioned their farm to a non-related beginning farmer neighbor You are in the right place to start or keep moving…  Read More

Spencer Award Winners: A Farm as Change Agent

On a blustery late summer day, Jan Libbey and Tim Landgraf hike through a waist-high prairie to the top of a dramatic knob on their farm in north-central Iowa. As they stand amongst big bluestem, Indian grass and switchgrass, corn and soybean fields flow in every direction, the monocultural landscape broken up only by a…  Read More

Ear to the Ground No. 253: The Power of Local Meat Processing

Livestock producer Eric Klein of Hidden Stream Farm describes why and how his family launched its own meat processing business. It’s been a financial and logistical challenge, but a few years down the road it’s already producing benefits for their farm as well as the local community. If you’re thinking of getting into small-scale meat…  Read More

America’s Newest Disease

Last month, the American Medical Association (AMA), the largest association of physicians in the United States, officially recognized obesity as a disease. Previously, obesity was only recognized as a “condition,” defined as a range of weight that may have an adverse effect on health, reduce life expectancy and increase the likelihood of certain chronic diseases,…  Read More

An Investment in Sustainable Ag is an Investment in a Positive Future for Rural Minnesota

If ever there was a shining example of a smart public investment in our food and farming future, Minnesota’s Sustainable Agriculture Demonstration Grant Program is it. This program has been an important driver of sustainable (and conventional) farming innovations in the state for almost a quarter-century. Farmers who qualify for these competitive grants are able…  Read More

Stanford Organic Study: Flawed & Simplistic

A recent press release from the Stanford School of Medicine read, “Little evidence of health benefits from organic foods.” The headline could just have easily read, “Despite billions spent on research and subsidies, conventional foods found more dangerous than organic.” The Stanford study was striking in several regards: 1) no new research was conducted —…  Read More

Crop Insurance’s Hunger for Land

It’s no secret that federally subsidized crop insurance makes it more attractive to till land that normally would be too wet, steep, lacking in fertility or otherwise “marginal” to raise a profitable crop on. But a recent study out of the University of Wisconsin attaches some solid numbers to just how much marginal land we’re…  Read More

Join LSP to Keep Rural Minnesota Strong & Say No to Factory Farms

UPDATE: Farmers and rural Minnesotans are standing up and taking action to stop the spread of factory farms in Minnesota. We are in the remaining weeks of the Legislature and things are moving fast. But thanks to action taken by LSP members and supporters, the corporate-backed factory farm provision detailed in this letter didn’t make…  Read More