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Don Wyse’s Land Grant Legacy

It's Imperative Forever Green Stays True to its Foundations: Farmer-Centered, Accountable to the Public, Rooted in the Land

By Brian DeVore
July 5, 2024

Back in 1998, I was working on an article for the Land Stewardship Letter about how the lack of biodiversity in agriculture was threatening the agronomic, ecological, and economic future of Midwestern farming communities. One of the people I interviewed was Don Wyse, a respected University of Minnesota plant scientist who had recently helped coordinate…  Read More →

LSP Members Deliver Letter to Governor’s Office Demanding Action on Fish Kills

‘We want this troubling pattern of aquatic destruction to stop.’

September 21, 2022

SAINT PAUL, Minn. — Members of the Land Stewardship Project (LSP) today delivered a letter to Gov. Tim Walz’s office calling on state officials to take action to address a rash of fish kills in southeastern Minnesota streams in recent years. “As people who drink, cook and wash with this water when it comes out of our…  Read More →

Rural Voices Hold More Power Than You Think

By Dan Wilson, LSP member
May 5, 2022

Like many people, I watched with hope as the protests in Minneapolis and across the country made possible the idea of significant police reform. I also watched with horror in 2021 as those reform efforts stalled in the Minnesota Senate. Being a white farmer living in rural Minnesota, I felt removed and powerless as all…  Read More →

LSP Statement on MN Sands Petition to U.S. Supreme Court

October 6, 2020

Corporation Yet Again Ignores Local Democracy & the Will of the People Today, Minnesota Sands, LLC filed a petition asking the United States Supreme Court to hear an appeal in its lawsuit seeking to overturn the Winona County frac sand mining ban. Such requests are not automatically accepted by the Court, and given the utter…  Read More →

Stages of Learning in Farming: Stage 0–Laying the Foundation

By Brian Petersen
February 8, 2016

First, some background: I grew up on a conventional hay, corn and soybean farm in western Iowa and moved to Rochester, Minn., for work after getting a mechanical engineering degree from Iowa State University. I like engineering, but after a few years of working in an office environment, I was feeling the urge to get…  Read More →

MN State College Was Wrong to Suspend Sustainable Food Production Program

By Sue Wika
September 5, 2013

As a farmer, sociologist and instructor in the Sustainable Food Production (SFP) diploma program at Minnesota State Community and Technical College in Fergus Falls, I was stunned as I read in Agri-News on Feb. 5 about why the program was abruptly suspended: “ …’people will move on and start their own farms,’ ” said Mary…  Read More →

Wading into Hostile Waters

This Week's MPCA Meeting on Riverview Highlights the Importance of Being Allowed to Ask Authentic Questions

By Brian DeVore
May 1, 2026

When debating a controversial topic in public, a well-proven trick is to never ask a question you don’t already have the answer to. That technique was on full display Tuesday evening in a packed-to-the-gills meeting held at Old No. 1 Bar & Grill in Morris, Minn. The topic at hand was a proposal by Riverview…  Read More →

Standing In Solidarity With Our Immigrant Neighbors

The President's Statements About Our Somali Community are in Stark Contrast to the Values We Hold & Practice Within the LSP Community

By Beth Slocum & Scott Elkins
December 4, 2025

This week, the President of the United States leveled a tirade of dehumanizing and vulgar insults at our Somali friends and neighbors. It was shocking and offensive and in stark contrast to the values we hold and practice within the Land Stewardship Project community. Immigrants are valued members of our communities, within and beyond Minnesota.…  Read More →

Legislative Wrap-up: Lack of Ag Bill Passage Represents Lost Opportunities 

Some Gains Made for Clean Water/Soil Health & Beginning Farmers

By Laura Schreiber 
June 4, 2026

It’s been said that politics is the art of the compromise. But during the 2026 session of the Minnesota Legislature, that approach to policymaking was undermined by disagreements about the role one particular herbicide should play in the state’s agricultural production system. As the session of the Minnesota Legislature entered its final month, it was…  Read More →

Farm Transition Profile: Full Circle

One LSP Course Helped Launch Melissa Driscoll & Jay Hambidge's Ag Career — Years Later, Another Helped Wrap It Up

By Brian DeVore
November 13, 2025

Note: LSP’s next Farm Transition Planning Course will begin meeting Jan. 27, 2026. For details and information on how to enroll, click here. Sometimes a successful farm transition requires a shoulder season — a period when the current owners are still present, still have their hands in the soil, so to speak, but the newbies…  Read More →