A Viral Carrot Sale During a Pandemic Reveals Local Food’s Potential…& Limits In mid-March, when it was becoming clear the COVID-19 pandemic was going to change the way food is procured in the U.S. and beyond, the owners of Open Hands Farm placed five bags of carrots and a money box in their driveway. Farm… Read More →
Sometimes one has to lose something to gain an appreciation for just how valuable an asset it was. That thought came to mind during the last hearing of the 48-year-old Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Citizens’ Board, which was held June 23 in Saint Paul. It was the last hearing because just a few weeks prior… Read More →
It’s that age-old struggle: accepting a little short-term disturbance in the name of long-term stability. Dave Trauba regularly faces the challenge of explaining that tradeoff to hunters who visit the Lac Qui Parle Wildlife Refuge in western Minnesota only to find their favorite spot for shooting pheasants has recently been grazed by cattle from a… Read More →
The U.S Drought Monitor released its latest figures yesterday, verifying what we already knew: Minnesota is extremely dry. In fact, 55 percent of our state now falls under the “severe drought” or “moderate drought” category. Over 60 percent Minnesota’s subsoil moisture is “short” or “very short.” The National Drought Mitigation Center reported that in August… Read More →
At the Minnesota State Fair yesterday, Governor Mark Dayton made it clear that he supports a ban on frac sand mining and processing in southeast Minnesota. During an appearance at Minnesota Public Radio’s fair booth, the Governor brought the issue up in response to a question about fracking and energy policy. During his State Fair… Read More →
Nov. 1 Deadline for Beginning Farmers to Enroll in Financial Education Programs & Receive Tax Credit MONTEVIDEO, Minn. — Details on how to apply for the newly launched Minnesota Beginning Farmer Tax Credit will be the focus of a meeting on Thursday, Oct. 11, from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m., at the Montevideo Public Library… Read More →
On a crisp morning in September, North Dakota farmer Gabe Brown held two handfuls of soil and searched for signs of life—theoretically not a difficult task considering one teaspoon of humus contains more organisms than there are humans in the world. But many of the bacteria and invertebrates that lurk in the dark basement of… Read More →
It’s early July—a time on one Wisconsin farm when there’s a brief reprieve between the spring rush of putting in crops and the mid-summer hurly-burly of making sure the land and animals are as productive as possible by fall. What better time to take a breather and assess where you’ve been, and where you’re going.… Read More →
Interested in hearing directly from the next generation of innovative farmers? Check out the Land Stewardship Project’s Ear to the Ground “Fresh Voices” podcast series. You can read profiles of Farm Beginnings grads here. You can check out all 295 episodes of our Ear to the Ground podcast here. Ear to the Ground 294: Rootless Regeneration … Read More →
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — A grassroots organizer with decades of experience empowering local communities around environmental and sustainability issues has been named the Land Stewardship Project’s new executive director, the organization’s board of directors announced today. Scott Elkins, who took the helm at the Land Stewardship Project (LSP) this week, is also leading the organization’s 501(c)4… Read More →
