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 →
Hannah Bernhardt and Jason Misik couldn’t afford prime farmland brimming with infrastructure. But sweat equity and soil health are helping them transform a marginal piece of ground far from Corn Country.
NORTHFIELD, Minn. — A “Finding Farmland: Strategies and Tools for Accessing Affordable Land” workshop will be held Saturday, March 30, from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the Northfield Public Library (210 Washington St.). There is no charge for this Land Stewardship Project (LSP) event. Please RSVP by Tuesday, March 26, by contacting LSP’s Karen… Read More →
Pack-shed or people? That’s the question Les Macare and Els Dobrick are grappling with on a dank day in mid-March as they brave a biting wind to inspect the garden plots, cover crops, and outbuildings on Racing Heart Farm in western Wisconsin. With the exception of some onions sprouting in one of the hoop houses,… Read More →
House Passes Tax Bill With SNAP Cuts, Billions for Immigration Enforcement, and Climate Rollbacks (7/7/25) President Donald Trump’s massive tax bill was passed by the U.S. House July 3 and signed into law by the President on July 4, reports Civil Eats. Highlights: The bill includes the biggest-ever changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program… Read More →
Between 2012 and 2022, Minnesota lost 9,011 farms — on average 900 farms per year. During that same period, the average size of a Minnesota farm went from 349 acres to 388 acres. The average age of Minnesota farmers has reached an all-time high of 57.1 years. Ninety-nine percent of all farmland in Minnesota is… Read More →
Nov. 6 : An LSP Round-up of News Covering Land, People & Communities Relay Cropping Helps Northeast Iowa Farmer Reach a Lofty Goal (October 2020) Northeastern Iowa farmer Loran Steinlage is using “relay cropping” to keep living roots in the soil 365-days-a-year, according to 4R Plus. Steinlage was getting good yields growing continuous corn-on-corn. But… Read More →
On April 17, Land Stewardship Project members gathered in Menomonie, Wis., to discuss the challenges they face as beginning farmers seeking land to farm. They also discussed how to shape the initial stages of LSP’s organizing for more affordable, secure land tenure. These farmers shared stories about how skyrocketing land prices are creating a crisis… Read More →
Farmers Battle Saturated Soils with More Roots in the Ground To Tom Cotter, the various natural resources his farming operation relies on don’t operate in a vacuum. Rather, they have a relational quality — the role one resource plays in keeping his business viable depends on how it interacts with other resources. For example, rain… Read More →
Good things go bad when out of their rightful places. Take farm fertilizer and soil, essential ingredients in the field but all wrong in the 27 percent of Minnesota lakes now too contaminated to drink. Last month’s report from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) blasted corn-and-soybean agriculture as the major source of nitrogen contamination… Read More →
