During the 2021 Minnesota legislative session, Land Stewardship Project farmer-members wrote and championed a comprehensive soil health bill that led to the establishment of a Soil Health Cost-Share Program. Through this program, $1.3 million will be available through the Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR). The program will provide payments to farmers for implementing soil-healthy… Read More →
Harvey Benson had a simple transition plan for the farm that had been in his family since the late 1860s: he would continue living on those 160 acres until he died, and then it would be passed on to his partner, Bonita Underbakke. In fact, when people ask him if he’s lived on the farm… Read More →
Pulling Together. Moving Forward. Stand with LSP on the Farm Crisis. The pain of this crisis is not being felt by agribusiness and corporate interests that continue to make profits at the expense of farmers and rural communities. The fact is that there is money in agriculture, but farmers are not getting a fair share… Read More →
Sometimes the rules of simple cause and effect don’t directly apply. Take, for instance, the fact that cattle are ruminants, and like all ruminants they utilize a wonderfully complex digestive system to turn forages and grain into meat and milk. A major side effect of all that fermentation on four legs is the production of… Read More →
For longer than I can remember, my family has taken the same route from our farm in southeast Minnesota to visit my grandparents in north-central Wisconsin. The first leg of the four-hour trip takes us across the Mississippi River and through the farmland, pastures and rolling, wooded hills of Trempealeau and Jackson Counties. The landmarks… Read More →
2025-2026 Farm Beginnings Class LSP is now accepting applications for its 2025-2026 Farm Beginnings class session. For details, click here. ♦ ♦ ♦ By the time Elyssa Eull moved back to Minnesota a few years ago, she already had several years of experience working on vegetable farms. But she felt that in order to successfully… Read More →
When Alan Perish passed away May 14, we lost a stalwart advocate for family farming and local democracy. Alan, a fourth-generation farmer, milked cows in central Minnesota’s Todd County for many years and he was a longtime Land Stewardship Project and Minnesota Farmers Union member. Over the years, I had several opportunities to talk with… Read More →
ORONOCO, Minn. — Southeastern Minnesota farmer Angela Smith had an important message for lawmakers when she traveled to the nation’s capital earlier this month: small and diversified farmers, as well as beginning farmers, need much better access to crop insurance in order to survive and thrive at a time of extreme climate change. Smith, who is… Read More →
The bill to reinstate public oversight of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) has been moving through the Minnesota Legislature. In the Minnesota Senate, it passed out of the State and Local Government Committee and needs to be heard in the Environment, Climate, and Legacy Committee before becoming part of the larger Senate bill that… Read More →
There are less than 20 days left in the 2022 session of the Minnesota Legislature, and with a $9.3 billion surplus, legislators have an historic opportunity to invest in our communities. Throughout the session, Land Stewardship Project members have been advocating for funding to increase access to local meat processing facilities and for helping farmers implement… Read More →
