It’s that age-old struggle: accepting a little short-term disturbance in the name of long-term stability. Dave Trauba regularly faces the challenge of explaining that tradeoff to hunters who visit the Lac Qui Parle Wildlife Refuge in western Minnesota only to find their favorite spot for shooting pheasants has recently been grazed by cattle from a… Read More →
Southeast Minnesota citizens traveled to Saint Paul yesterday and presented copies of the People’s EIS Scoping Report to each of the state agency commissioners and citizen members who make up Minnesota’s Environmental Quality Board (EQB). Land Stewardship Project organizer Johanna Rupprecht made these comments to the EQB after the report was delivered to the EQB… Read More →
The sustainable agriculture community lost a true friend this week when Bud Markhart passed away after a courageous battle with cancer. I had the opportunity to interview Markhart last fall for an LSP podcast. He was a professor of horticultural science at the U of M, and so it’s no surprise that he made his… Read More →
Local control provides local governments the ability to make decisions that benefit their communities. It can happen at the township, county, city, or regional level. The decisions that are made can impact everything from local policy to how public funds are spent. Right now, the federal government is considering changing the rules for local decision-making… Read More →
Kathryn Rowe joined LSP’s staff in January 2025. Kathryn has several years of experience working on farms in New England and the Midwest. Most recently, she worked as an evaluation manager and greenhouse coordinator at Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah, Iowa. Kathryn is based out of LSP’s office in Lewiston, Minn.
Diversified, small, and mid-sized farmers deserve to have a strong safety net. Yet, most don’t. Why? Crop insurance isn’t accessible or worthwhile for most small, mid-sized, and diversified farms. Take it from Andy Petran, a Land Stewardship Project member and Farmington, Minn.-area farmer, who wrote the following in a recent Star Tribune op-ed: “Farming has always… Read More →
This nice big canvas tote bag features original Land Stewardship Project artwork by LSP staff member Josh Journey-Heinz.
Meetings Set with MPCA Assistant Commissioner & Governor Dayton; Press Conference to be held at 12:30 p.m. in front of MPCA Office in St. Paul NEWBURG TOWNSHIP, Minn. — Dozens of family farmers, business owners, members of the Amish community and rural residents who live near a proposed factory hog farm in southeastern Minnesota’s Fillmore… Read More →
Farmers possess a kind of ground-level common sense that seems increasingly rare in today’s fast-paced, technologically-driven world. Farmers develop this common sense from a real, experiential understanding of their land. Mike Krause is one farmer who not only understands the generations’ worth of knowledge behind his family farm, what the land has been through, and… Read More →
Bill Proposes Common Sense Reforms that Would Support Conservation Efforts & Help Beginning Farmers MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — The Land Stewardship Project (LSP) applauded today’s introduction of the “Crop Insurance Modernization Act of 2018” by Minnesota U.S. Representative Rick Nolan. Rep. Nolan is the Ranking Member of the House Agriculture Committee’s General Farm Commodities and Risk… Read More →
