When I started working with the Land Stewardship Project on the Chippewa 10% Project, the work felt far away. Based out of Minneapolis, I was working on the Cropping Systems Calculator to help farmers in the Chippewa River watershed region in west-central Minnesota determine what financial differences they would see by switching a marginal corn/soybean… Read More →
Dear Senators, I am writing to urge that the Natural Resources, Economic Development and Agricultural Budget Committee NOT approve a Pineland Sands Land and Water Study. Let me be clear: this proposal is NOT an appropriate allocation of “conservation” funds or, for that matter, any tax-supported funds. The so-called “need” for this study would NOT… Read More →
Regulating Through Permits Fails to Protect County & Poses Bigger Legal Risks, Analysis Finds LEWISTON, Minn. — Minnesota law does not prevent imposing a total ban on frac sand mining, processing and transportation operations in Winona County, according to a new legal analysis released today by the Land Stewardship Project (LSP). The analysis, “Legal and… Read More →
In December, members of the Land Stewardship Project and Toxic Taters filed a citizens’ petition for environmental review of R.D. Offutt’s major expansion plans in northern Minnesota. R.D. Offutt is the nation’s largest potato producer. This expansion would use more than 166 million gallons of water per year, just as concerns over the unsustainable depletion… Read More →
The Star Tribune reported last week on the problems MNsure is having with the re-enrollment process for thousands of people on Medical Assistance and MinnesotaCare. More specifically, a number of the Land Stewardship Project’s farmer-members received health plan disenrollment notices and healthcare closing notices despite turning in enrollment paperwork on time. These notices were received… Read More →
Over Thanksgiving, I was perusing the Dairy Star at my brother-in-law’s house in Stillwater, Minn. Having grown up on a dairy farm, I still like to see how the industry is doing. A column by Sadie Frerichs called, “The Negative Impacts of Health Insurance,” caught my eye. Because of the recent health insurance rate increases… Read More →
An Indiana farmer describes his experience with cover cropping and how it fits into a bigger goal of improving his land’s soil health (part 3 of 3).
As rural Land Stewardship Project organizing committee members and staff, we feel compelled to respond to recent incidents of racial tension in the broader community of Minnesota’s Winona County, where we live and work. Following this summer’s racist killings in the church in Charleston, South Carolina, and the subsequent removal of the Confederate flag from… Read More →
On Oct. 6, at lunchtime, I stood on the sidewalk outside a McDonald’s restaurant in St. Paul, Minn., facing the busy traffic on University Avenue with a colorful sign that said “Stop the Drift.” I was with a group of other supporters of the Toxic Taters Coalition: students, parents and community members who made time… Read More →
It’s field day time on this western Minnesota farm, and it’s made clear from the outset that there will no main presenter, no expert from on-high telling it like it is or isn’t, no PowerPoints produced by consultants. This is a field day where farmers learn from other farmers. “You are all consultants,” Richard Ness… Read More →
