Last fall, the Land Stewardship Project’s organizing efforts won a major victory when the Winona County Board in southeastern Minnesota banned any new frac sand operations in the county’s jurisdiction. In recent years, outside interests have been seeking to strip-mine and haul away silica sand from beneath southeastern Minnesota hills, bluffs and farmland to use… Read More →
What happens when you get out of the car and wade into a prairie? A scientist and a soil expert talk about this biome’s under-appreciated beauty, its outsized benefits, and how grazing can fuel its ecological energy. Other Ear to the Ground Podcasts on Prairies & Farming: • Episode 25: The farm as natural… Read More →
Oct. 15: An LSP Round-up of News Covering Land, People & Communities World Food Prize Laureate Advocates for Re-Carbonizing Soil to Protect Food Production (10/13/20) Soil scientist Rattan Lal, the 2020 Word Food Prize laureate, makes the case that agriculture globally must take better care of its most valuable resource to not only produce more,… Read More →
The 2017 Minnesota state legislative session is complete, including a four-day special session that was needed for the Legislature to finish passing a budget. Land Stewardship Project members and staff were active throughout the session fighting for healthcare policies that put people before corporate profits. On a positive note for healthcare, the Legislature provided short-term… Read More →
Laura Cullip co-owns and operates Loon Organics, a diversified organic vegetable farm in Hutchinson, Minn. Laura got her start working on organic farms around the U.S. and Brazil before starting Loon Organics with her partner, Adam, in 2005, on one acre of rented land. After four years of renting land, Laura and Adam were able… Read More →
Harvey Benson had a simple transition plan for the farm that had been in his family since the late 1860s: he would continue living on those 160 acres until he died, and then it would be passed on to his partner, Bonita Underbakke. In fact, when people ask him if he’s lived on the farm… Read More →
SAINT PAUL, Minn. — Three Minnesota farm groups are applauding Governor Tim Walz’s budget proposals for the Minnesota Department of Agriculture and Board of Water and Soil Resources, which were released this week. The proposals strongly align with the vision for a thriving, abundant, and resilient countryside shared by the Land Stewardship Project (LSP), Hmong… Read More →
Neighbors Plan to Push Forward in Fight to Stop Proposed Factory Farm SAINT PAUL, Minn. — Farmers and other rural residents of Goodhue County’s Zumbrota Township gathered today at the headquarters of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) in Saint Paul to express their frustration with an inaccurate and incomplete environmental review on a proposed… Read More →
Without MPCA Citizens’ Board, Neighbors Shut Out of Decision ZUMBROTA TOWNSHIP, Minn. — The Commissioner of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) has decided an inaccurate and incomplete Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW) on a proposed factory hog farm in Goodhue County’s Zumbrota Township will not be corrected. Neighbors to the proposed facility learned late last… Read More →
When it comes to youth programs centered around gardening and farming, a common mantra is, “We’re teaching kids about where their food comes from.” Sounds laudable, but to Marcos Giossi, such a feel-good goal is too limiting when it comes to exposing young people to the realities of the farm and food system that dominates.… Read More →
