The best farming system in the world means little if it isn’t resilient enough to bounce back from all the nastiness nature can toss its way. That’s become painfully clear in recent years as extreme weather events increase in frequency. Two upcoming Land Stewardship Project field days will focus on how diverse farming systems can… Read More →
Former Purdue University professor Don Huber is no chemo-phobe — he just hates to see a product of science go to waste. LSP’s podcast/PowerPoint presentation on the herbicide glyphosate featuring Huber makes that point. In the presentation, Huber comes across as a scientist who is profoundly disappointed that a sound crop production tool has, in… Read More →
Alex joined LSP’s soil health team in July 2018 and lives, works, and plays in the Driftless countryside with her family. At LSP, Alex spends her days leading the soil health team and organizing with regional farmers and partners to establish soil health practices as the new norm for farming. Alex grew up as a… Read More →
The deadline to apply for the Land Stewardship Project’s 2020-2021 Farm Beginnings class is Tuesday, Sept. 15! This year-long training program focuses on the goal setting, marketing, and financial skills needed to establish a successful farm business. Classes will take place in an online setting November through March, with on-farm educational events to follow later… Read More →
It’s field day time on this western Minnesota farm, and it’s made clear from the outset that there will no main presenter, no expert from on-high telling it like it is or isn’t, no PowerPoints produced by consultants. This is a field day where farmers learn from other farmers. “You are all consultants,” Richard Ness… Read More →
Cover crops proved themselves foul weather friends during the Great Drought of 2012. A groundbreaking farmer survey conducted in the Upper Mississippi River watershed showed that during that year’s brutal growing season keeping the soil covered with small grains and other plants helped fields preserve enough precious moisture to provide a yield bump of, in… Read More →
On Tuesday, June 11, I traveled to the Capitol from my home near the city of St. Charles, Minn., in Saratoga Township to meet with Governor Mark Dayton. My home is within a few miles of seven proposed frac sand mines. In February, I traveled to the state Capitol for the first time in my… Read More →
One of the nation’s most innovative working lands farm conservation initiatives has received a financial reprieve, thanks to the continuing resolution signed by President Barack Obama on Tuesday. The continuing resolution, which was passed by Congress late last week, appropriates funds to federal government agencies through the remainder of the government’s current fiscal year. The… Read More →
Some sins against the land can be masked over with deep tillage, chemical inputs, and, when all else fails, moving dirt around with heavy equipment. But you can’t fool a good soil probe. For Mike and Jennifer Rupprecht, that revelation came when a retired soil scientist sunk his equipment deep into a couple spots on… Read More →
The Land Stewardship Project became a membership organization in 1994, 12 years after we were founded. The people leading the grassroots work knew that to realize the positive transformation of the farm and food system, LSP had to be organizing people, ideas, and money. Becoming a member by making a financial contribution has always been… Read More →
