There are numerous ways of communicating the value society places on having more family farmers on the land, not fewer. This morning, the USDA announced it was awarding $18 million in grants to groups that are helping beginning farmers nationwide. That sends an important message that the federal government, thanks to initiatives put in the… Read More →
Bob Quinn says regenerative farming and rural economic revitalization go hand-in-hand. For him, it all started with a handful of “King Tut’s wheat.” (First in a three-part series on small grains and community-based foods.) More Information • Episode 3 in Ear to the Ground Small Grains Workshop Series: “Landon Plagge — Small Grain-Big Opportunity” • Episode 2 in Ear… Read More →
When Jay Fuhrer first started talking to his conservation colleagues about a different approach to protecting and building soil, he ended up eating lunch alone. But eventually the Burleigh County Soil Health Team helped launch a movement that’s showing how farming, the environment, and local economies benefit when people stop accepting soil as a degraded resource. More… Read More →
LSP’s political action partner, the Land Stewardship Action Fund, is working to show that vibrant rural communities require local people participating in decision-making — one vote at a time. More Information • Land Stewardship Action Fund • Land Stewardship Letter Article: “Land Stewardship Action Fund’s Local Impact” • LSP’s Policy Campaigns You can find LSP Ear… Read More →
When LSP farmer-members like Paul Sobocinski took on Big Pork, it showed the long-term impact grassroots organizing can have. More Information • Making Change from the Ground Up: 40 Stories for 40 Years of Land Stewardship Project • LSP’s Policy Campaigns Web Page • January/February/March 2001 Land Stewardship Letter: Pork Checkoff Voted Down by Farmers • Ear… Read More →
A Farm Transfers Ownership & a Farmer Transfers into a New Role What’s that stuff in soil that’s supposed to provide humans a sense of wellbeing? You know, like a protozoa-based version of Prozac? Emmalyn Kayser is trying to come up with the name on a recent March afternoon as she and Chris Burkhouse squat… Read More →
Note: LSP believes that a more sustainable food production system must be based on the kinds of farmer-to-farmer education networks that thrive at workshops, field days, and during informal conversations in the field and at the kitchen table. That’s why LSP is committed to building Soil Health Hubs and otherwise bringing farmers together to share… Read More →
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 →
LANESBORO, Minn. — The impacts on rural communities of unprecedented consolidation in agriculture and what local citizens can do to address this issue will be the focus of a Land Stewardship Project (LSP) panel discussion Tuesday, Nov. 4, from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., at the Lanesboro Community Center (202 Parkway Ave. South). To reserve… Read More →
On a misty June morning in northeastern Iowa, Nikki Meyer led half-a-dozen farmers down a field road through a thick stand of oaks and other hardwoods. The going was tough — the road dropped 400 vertical feet in less than half-a-mile, and a half-inch rain earlier had made the footing greasy with mud. Sensing that… Read More →
