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LSP Legislative Update: Proposals Related to Local Food, Land Access & Soil Health Moving Forward

Budget Issues Loom Large as Regular Session Heads into Final Weeks

As we pass a key date in the 2025 Minnesota legislative calendar, several initiatives supported by the Land Stewardship Project remain alive and are moving through the committee process. In order to be considered as part of an omnibus bill, the majority of proposed legislation had to be heard in both the House and Senate…  Read More

Eating Our Own Farm Financial Cooking

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

Land Line: Nitrates, High Tech Mismatch, Dairy Soil Health, USDA Cuts, A Dairy’s Demise, New Farm Bill, Whole Grain Baking

Sign Up for E-mail Delivery of The Land Line Nearly One-Fifth of Americans Are Consuming Water With High Levels of Nitrates (4/27/26) Close to 20% of Americans are exposed to water polluted with high levels of potentially cancer-causing nitrates, known to come mostly from agricultural runoff, according to a study reported on in Inside Climate…  Read More

LSP Statement on Daley Farm Appeal of Winona County BOA Decision

LEWISTON, Minn. — On Jan. 3, Daley Farm of Lewiston, L.L.P, filed an appeal in Minnesota District Court challenging the Winona County Board of Adjustment’s decision in December denying the operation’s proposed expansion. This expansion would exceed the county’s animal unit cap by almost four times the current limit. Over the years, Daley Farm has repeatedly shown it has little respect…  Read More

Internationally Known Soil Health Pioneer Gabe Brown Featured at Farm Near Austin Sept. 16

‘Hemp & Food Health Day on a Regenerative Farm’ Sept. 17 Near Austin

AUSTIN, Minn. — Internationally known soil health pioneer Gave Brown will be featured at a regenerative farming field day Friday, Sept. 16, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the Tom Cotter farm near Austin (50203 205th Street). This event, which is being sponsored by the Minnesota Soil Health Coalition, Superior Cannabis Company and the…  Read More

Pacing Ourselves in the World Hunger Race

In the late 1790s and early 1800s, British economist Thomas Robert Malthus used mathematics, the agronomic reality of the day and basic biology to lay out a grim assessment about the future of the planet: we were doomed to an endless cycle of boom and bust. It was inevitable human populations would periodically grow to…  Read More

A Sense of Where You Are: Food Bank Booster

Part 7 in a Series

Note: This is the 7th installment in the 12-part “A Sense of Where You Are” series.  Here’s some troubling context in the land of plenty: in 2023, 18 million U.S. households were food insecure at some time during the year, according to the USDA. That figure is up from 17 million in 2022. Food insecurity…  Read More

Land Line: Modern Dust Bowl, Corporate Indifference, Farmers’ Market Stores, Soybean Giant, SNAP & Local Foods, Carbon Markets, Farm Economy’s Twin Tale

Dust Storm Friday Was City’s Worst Since 1930s, Weather Service Says (5/18/25) Block Club Chicago reports that on May 16 the city experienced its worst dust storm since the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. The dust originated from central Illinois farms. Highlights: A little before 7 p.m. on May 16, a wall of dust slammed…  Read More

The Food Desert’s Hidden Oasis

While spending time in western Minnesota’s Big Stone County recently, I came across a lot of talk about food deserts—those places where people don’t have good access to healthy, affordable food. But while interviewing LSP organizer Rebecca Terk for this week’s podcast, an interesting twist emerged: a type of food desert can exist even when…  Read More

Minnesota Soil Health Story: Rhyan Schicker

Sign LSP's Soil Health Petition Today

When I first moved to Minnesota eight years ago, my knowledge of soils and agricultural systems was purely textbook. I live and work in an amazing community that has taught me more than I ever expected to learn, and has pulled back the curtain on our current farming systems and the ways in which they…  Read More