The 2016 Minnesota legislative session ended at midnight on May 22 with the Land Stewardship Project engaged right until the end. Here is a summary of how the issues LSP was most engaged in fared during the session: ðŸ‘Legislation weakening local control is defeated (HF 2585/ SF 2694). For decades, LSP has fended off efforts… Read More →
LEWISTON, Minn. — The Land Stewardship Project (LSP) today released a strategic plan that describes how, during the next five years, the Minnesota-based organization will work with its members and allies to support the next generation of farmers and drive rural economic revitalization via community-based food systems, as well as help farmers adopt soil health… Read More →
The Land Stewardship Project believes that in order for our communities to thrive, everyone, regardless of background or zip code, must have access to the healthcare they need. Yet lack of healthcare access and high costs continue to be major financial stresses for all Minnesotans — particularly for rural residents. More people in rural areas… Read More →
Something Smells With the Feedlot Trend, and it’s More Than Just the Manure 3/16/25 Ron Way, former assistant director of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, writes in the Star Tribune about how factory farms have transformed the landscape in southern and central Minnesota. Highlights: Since the 1970s, backers of large-scale, industrialized livestock production have successfully… Read More →
A cornerstone of creating a regenerative agricultural system in the Upper Midwest is reintegrating livestock onto the land in a way that farmers can add value to forages and grains while cycling nutrients in a manner that manure becomes a way to build soil biology, rather than a waste product to be disposed of. Over… Read More →
On Valentine’s Day, members of the Immigrant Defense Network turned out across Minnesota to spread a “Love Your Immigrant Neighbor” message and to inform people of their rights when confronted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents who are enforcing mass deportation orders from the White House. Last November, more than 90 Minnesota groups… Read More →
For decades, Land Stewardship Project members have been actively advocating for Minnesota policymakers to consistently advance a bold vision for family farmers, local foods, and the land. This year has been no different. Our rural, suburban, and urban communities are deeply connected and impacted by our state’s investment in and protection of our farms and… Read More →
Last Thursday I traveled from my dairy farm in Sibley County to the Governor’s Mansion in Saint Paul. I wanted to be with other Minnesotans who were gathered there to let Gov. Mark Dayton know that House File 846 was bad for Minnesota, especially rural Minnesota. Many provisions favoring corporate polluters and special interests had… Read More →
Calls Needed by Monday, Dec. 8 The Minnesota Senate Rural Task Force met on Nov. 12 to discuss rural Minnesota initiatives that could be brought up during the state legislative session that begins Jan. 6. On a short list of three agenda items was “Rural Permitting Discussion.” This “discussion” focused on corporate ag advocates attacking… Read More →
NOTE: Land Stewardship Project board of directors member Laura Frerichs spoke April 24 at the National Press Club during the People’s Action Rural & Small Town Organizing Cohort Gathering. Below is the text of her talk: My name is Laura Frerichs. I’m an organic vegetable farmer from rural Hutchinson, Minn., where I farm with my… Read More →
