Ear to the Ground No. 240: The Farmer-Chef Connection
What happens when you bring a group of food service folks out to see how vegetables are actually grown?
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Searched for: regional food systems
Community-Based Meat Processing as a Public Good
Many small and medium-size farms are trying to survive by selling meats directly to retail customers and restaurants. The idea shows promise as a way to revitalize an economy otherwise in the shadow of huge farming enterprises. We need slaughterhouses; several good, new up-to-date buildings should be placed throughout the state to serve the growing… Read More →
Farm Crisis Exacerbated by Covid-19: Urgent Action Needed
As people across Minnesota and around the world face a global health pandemic, the reality of the farm crisis grows starker and more urgent. Small- to mid-sized farmers who strengthen our rural economies and act as stewards of the land and water face greater uncertainty in the production and distribution of the food we depend… Read More →
Farm Transition Profile: A High-Value Apprenticeship
When Nathan Vergin applied to work as an apprentice on Polyface Farm in Virginia back in the mid-2000s, he had to undergo a three-day “working interview.” Vergin, who grew up helping out on a sheep dairy near Northfield, Minn., passed the trial by fire, and went on to serve a two-year apprenticeship with the farm’s… Read More →
Pulling Together, Moving Forward: LSP Member Statement on the Current Farm Crisis
NOTE: On Sept. 7, 2019, 37 Land Stewardship Project member-farmers and leaders came together in St. Peter, Minn., to discuss direct ways of addressing the current farm crisis. Below is the statement these members developed as a guideline on how to move forward to address this crisis: A Real Farm Crisis Farmers are facing an… Read More →
Pulling Together, Moving Forward: LSP Member Statement on the Current Farm Crisis
NOTE: On Sept. 7, 2019, 37 Land Stewardship Project member-farmers and leaders came together in St. Peter, Minn., to discuss direct ways of addressing the current farm crisis. Below is the statement these members developed as a guideline on how to move forward to address this crisis: A Real Farm Crisis Farmers are facing an… Read More →
LSP Member-Leaders Express Opposition to ICE Detention Facility
APPLETON, Minn. — The Coalition of Concerned Residents of Western Minnesota held a meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 13, to lift up and grow the opposition to CoreCivic’s plan to open the prison in Appleton, as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center. Many Land Stewardship Project (LSP) members are deeply involved in this grassroots… Read More →
Beginning Farmer Education Opportunities Being Offered in Menomonie
Dates for LSP’s Farm Dreams & Farm Beginnings Set MENOMONIE, Wis. — In coming weeks, beginning farmers have two exciting Land Stewardship Project (LSP) educational opportunities available to them in Menomonie. A four-hour “Farm Dreams” workshop will be held Sunday, August 25, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., at the Menomonie Market Food Co-op (814… Read More →
Ear to the Ground 224: Living on Stolen Ground
This is the first in a three-part series titled “Farming on Stolen Land.” These three episodes were developed by LSP staff member Elizabeth Makarewicz as a guide to exploring issues of native justice and equity in Minnesota’s food system. This first episode seeks to answer the question, “What does it mean to be a non-indigenous person living on native land?” Elizabeth’s interviewee, Nora Murphy, attempts to answer this question in her book, White Birch, Red Hawthorn.
Farm Beginnings Profile: A Land-Based Launching Pad
Four Winds Farm Serves as a Staging Ground for New Agrarians
On a warm day in early October, the owner-operators of Clover Bee Farm are preparing a delivery for the 43 shareholders that make up their Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) vegetable operation. Standing in a hoop house, Andrew Hanson-Pierre cleans dozens of fat onions, while across the farmyard in a barn that’s been converted to a… Read More →