• EQIP Deadline: April 19 in Minn.; May 17 in Wis. • CSP Deadline: May 10 Contact Your Local NRCS Office Today The Land Stewardship Project wants you to know that sign-up for participation in our nation’s two largest working farmland conservation programs is open now, and the 2019 sign-up deadlines are coming soon. We… Read More →
I have been a member of the Land Stewardship Project since 2008, first joining through the Farm Beginnings program. Since then, and even before, as a grass-fed beef farmer, a professor of sustainable agriculture law issues, and now renting our farm fields to Farm Beginning’s graduates, I have observed and participated in LSP’s campaigns and… Read More →
On Thursday, Sept. 22, Land Stewardship Project members will be traveling to Boone County, Iowa, to stand with our allies, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (CCI), against the Dakota Access Pipeline. Can you join us? Energy Transfer Partners is trying to force through a massive (half-million barrels of oil a day) pipeline from the Bakken… Read More →
Gary Van Ryswyk’s concern for how his farming methods impact the landscape is obvious. A practitioner of a no-till system that avoids disturbing a field’s surface as much as possible, he is particularly focused on keeping soil in place. “None of us who farm want the soil to move—we care,” Van Ryswyk told me one… Read More →
Sometimes, there’s nothing like a speed bump to send you on your way toward that ultimate goal. In the case of Jason and Juli Montgomery-Riess, that slight detour was in the form of the Land Stewardship Project’s Farm Beginnings course. Before taking the class, both had worked on some of the top produce operations in… Read More →
History Professor James E. McWilliams’ recent doubled-barreled attack on sustainable livestock production and the local food movement in general is so contradictory and full of factual holes, it’s tough to know where to begin to pick it apart. But it must be picked apart, since it has appeared in the New York Times and subsequently… Read More →
2026-2027 Farm Beginnings Class LSP is now accepting applications for its 2026-2027 Farm Beginnings class session. The application deadline is Sept. 1. For details, click here. ♦ ♦ ♦ The phrase “Perfect is the enemy of good” is often attributed to the French Enlightenment writer and historian Voltaire. His actual quote is, “The best is… Read More →
In June, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency failed Minnesotans when it refused to require a full environmental impact statement (EIS) for Riverview LLP’s massive West River Dairy expansion in Stevens County. That decision left Stevens County families, farmers, neighbors, and local officials to face the risks of an operation that would hold more than 26,000… Read More →
The Land Stewardship Project has announced its upcoming 2026 Farm Beginnings Field Days, a series of three distinct on-farm events hosted across Minnesota. Led by graduates of the LSP Farm Beginnings course, these sessions provide transparent, peer-to-peer insights into successful farm management and innovative, sustainable agricultural practices. Designed for aspiring growers, seasoned land managers, and… Read More →
Over the past three decades, the rotating Endowed Chair in Agricultural Systems has provided farmers and others a chance to build a more sustainable farm and food system in Minnesota. Farmer and community leader Marvin Johnson says now is not the time to close that public door into the University. More Information • Transcript of… Read More →
