Ear to the Ground 232: A Difficult Discussion
Excessive erosion on her farm prompted Jeannie Hill to have a hard conversation with her renter. But first, she did some homework.
Excessive erosion on her farm prompted Jeannie Hill to have a hard conversation with her renter. But first, she did some homework.
• 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 →
Alan Jostock uses the kind of diversity that builds soil health as a kind of insurance policy for his farm. That means meshing his crop and livestock enterprises in a way that they prop each other up through thick and thin. More Information • Jan. 27, 2026, LSP Workshop — “Beyond Exports: Rebuilding Local Markets”… Read More →
This week, the President of the United States leveled a tirade of dehumanizing and vulgar insults at our Somali friends and neighbors. It was shocking and offensive and in stark contrast to the values we hold and practice within the Land Stewardship Project community. Immigrants are valued members of our communities, within and beyond Minnesota.… Read More →
Note: LSP believes that a more sustainable food production system must be based on the kinds of farmer-to-farmer education networks that thrive at workshops, field days, and during informal conversations in the field and at the kitchen table. That’s why LSP is committed to building Soil Health Hubs and otherwise bringing farmers together to share… Read More →