Having just come from working several seasons as an outdoor educator, I have had ample time to appreciate our wild places. In my previous position as an instructor leading canoe and dogsled trips in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, I was able to explore the interactions between humans and nature and marvel in the… Read More →
Last month, the American Medical Association (AMA), the largest association of physicians in the United States, officially recognized obesity as a disease. Previously, obesity was only recognized as a “condition,” defined as a range of weight that may have an adverse effect on health, reduce life expectancy and increase the likelihood of certain chronic diseases,… Read More →
How ‘Tribally Supported Agriculture’ could help a Native American community attain food sovereignty.
Gardeners at Hope Community in the Phillips Community of South Minneapolis have been working hard this week to prepare soil and create a design for the urban agriculture space that has come to be known as the “2012 Garden,” in honor of its address at 2012 Oakland Avenue. The 2012 Garden has gone through many… Read More →
Just when you think the facts and figures around federal subsidized crop insurance can’t get any more outlandish, new numbers emerge exposing the out-of-control spending and lack of accountability for this area of farm policy. Earlier this month, USDA released the most recent data on crop insurance costs. It’s ugly: the federal government anticipates doling… Read More →
One winter evening in 1999 I was sitting in on a Farm Beginnings class being held in the southeast Minnesota community of Plainview when a local banker stood up and made a statement that about knocked me out of my chair. “We need to eat our own cooking,” said the banker, Dean Harrington. The statement… Read More →
On a recent July afternoon, southeastern Minnesota farmer Martin Larsen stopped his Gleaner R-62 combine in the middle of oat harvest, climbed down the ladder, and walked a hundred yards or so to where the Chair of the Minnesota Senate Agriculture Committee was standing at the edge of the field. Larsen then described to Sen.… Read More →
On a muggy, overcast July day in northwestern Iowa, Matt Bormann and Zack Smith were standing in front of a sophisticated piece of conservation tillage equipment that farmers like themselves use to keep soil in place while planting corn and soybeans. A few yards away, another farmer, James Hepp, was standing in front of a… Read More →
Jessica is seeking to rent or buy tillable, pasture and forested acres in Wisconsin. Fencing & Land Management: Established Perimeter Fencing: Existing high-tensile, predator-proof woven wire fencing for livestock containment. Cross-Fencing Potential: Open acreage that allows for the implementation of rotational grazing paddocks (to support long-term pasture health and parasite management). Terrain: Clear, rock-free, and… Read More →
Paul and Delores Moechnig are working to prove to the next generation that the road to farming’s future doesn’t have to pass through corn and soybean fields. It turns out the bluebirds and swallows appreciate the offramp they’ve taken into rotational grazing as well. More Information • LSP’s Soil Builders’ Network • Blog: Soil Health… Read More →
