Ear to the Ground 210: Ignoring a Financial Problem Never Works
An LSP panel of professionals provides farmers advice on dealing with financial stress.
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Searched for: regional food system
MN Lawmakers Need to Stop Healthcare Malpractice
During 2017, the Minnesota Legislature took these steps on healthcare: Insurance companies received a $549 million cushion against losses associated with the small number of patients with costly claims. This was meant as an inducement to keep these companies in the marketplace. A proposal to allow people in this same individual market to buy into… Read More →
Applications Now Open for 2018 Conservation Stewardship Program
LSP Urges Farmers to Apply to this Working Lands Conservation Program Before the March 2 Deadline American farmers and ranchers have until March 2 to submit an initial fiscal year 2018 application for the nation’s largest working lands program—the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP). This program is administered by the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).… Read More →
Land Stewardship Project Applauds Introduction of ‘Crop Insurance Modernization Act of 2018’
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 →
Our Minnesota Future: Building Governing Power to Advance LSP Values
When you think about your community and Minnesota as a whole, what issues stand out as most needing to be addressed? When you allow yourself to step back and dream big, what do you hope for? At a time marked by extreme division, animosity and the feeling that nothing is getting done on the major… Read More →
Stand Up for an Affordable Public Insurance Option on Feb. 14
Even if you are not in the crosshairs of the healthcare crisis yourself, you have surely heard the stories. Premiums have doubled for some Minnesotans, and high deductibles have many of us deciding not to go to the doctor — if our doctors are even covered by narrow-network insurance plans. Governor Mark Dayton has proposed… Read More →
Affordable Public Option Beats Bailing Out Insurers
How to improve our health insurance system is an urgent matter for nearly everyone in Minnesota. It’s a top issue for farmers across Minnesota, and one of the most frequent concerns heard by clergy. For months, policymakers in St. Paul worked on details for how to provide immediate assistance to people who buy health insurance… Read More →
MPCA: Listen to the People of Zumbrota Township
On Monday, Dec. 12, I attended the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s (MPCA) public informational meeting at Zumbrota City Hall. Fellow Zumbrota Township neighbors packed the conference room to show that we have serious concerns about a factory hog farm threatening to move into our neighborhood. We called on the MPCA to do a thorough and… Read More →
Restoring Stewardship on a Worn-Out Farm
After a lifetime of working for others in agricultural jobs, and retired after a career with the postal service, Tom Hoekstra and his wife, Lisa, bought a 150-acre farm outside of Plainview in southeastern Minnesota. Tom was 59 when they bought the farm in 2009. Right after their purchase, they immediately went to work re-building… Read More →
Soil Health Past, Present & Future on one SE MN Farm
NOTE: Southeastern Minnesota farmer and Land Stewardship Project member Curt Tvedt recently talked to LSP staffer Shona Snater about why he is excited about building soil health on his farm. Below is an excerpt of Tvedt’s thoughts: The soil scientists say there are more living species in a tablespoon of soil than there are people… Read More →