Poor soil, short growing seasons, and little infrastructure: beginning farmer George Heller is proving that a successful grazing operation doesn’t require optimal conditions. (Third episode in a series on LSP’s 2024 Grazing School.) More Information • 5th in the Grazing School Podcast Series: “Pasture Pixie Dust” • 4th in the Grazing School Podcast Series: “Grazing’s Generational… Read More →
An innovative program for promoting soil health and extending the grazing season came at just the right time for farmer Alan Bedtka. More Information • Ear to the Ground No. 326: Rooting Out Nitrates • Land Stewardship Letter article on Olmsted County Groundwater Protection & Soil Health Program • LSP’s 2023 Field Day Special Report:… Read More →
EYOTA, Minn. — Test plots, interseeding and grazing cover crops, fencing around crop fields, pollinator plantings and transitioning to organic will be the focus of a Land Stewardship Project (LSP) field day Friday, Sept. 30, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., at the Lawler farm near Eyota (930 70th Ave. NE). Although much of the Lawlers’… Read More →
The 2022 Minnesota legislative session held incredible promise in the form of a historic budget surplus that had the opportunity to deliver tangible progress on the biggest challenges we face. For example, the Minnesota House Climate Action Caucus, chaired by Rep. Patty Acomb (DFL-Minnetonka), began the session with a bang, proposing a $1 billion investment… Read More →
SAINT PAUL, Minn. — As the agriculture budget emerged from a House-Senate conference committee Friday evening, it appeared legislative leaders had squandered a major opportunity to invest in an economically and ecologically sustainable rural Minnesota, according to the Land Stewardship Project (LSP). “This was the state’s chance to help farmers build the kind of agricultural… Read More →
A 4th grade experiment launched farmer Connor McCormick down a path of researching linkages between ecology, agricultural economics, and healthy soil. More Information • Ear to the Ground 166: A farmer works with a professor and her students at St. Olaf College college to study the impacts of cropping on soil health. • Connor McCormick Blog: Returning… Read More →
SAINT PAUL, Minn. — A $1 billion proposal released by the Minnesota House Climate Action Caucus today represents a meaningful investment in the health of our farms, soil, water, climate and rural communities, said leaders of the Land Stewardship Project (LSP). “LSP applauds the Minnesota House Climate Action Caucus for crafting a strong proposal that… 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 →
Some five decades ago, a young aspiring farmer named John Snyder brought his bride Bernadette back to Minnesota from Tennessee to begin their farm and family dream together. The newlyweds settled in on a piece of rolling farmland near Preston in southeastern Minnesota where oak savanna forests, limestone ridges, and prairie meet. That first farmhouse… Read More →
Jan. 7: An LSP Round-up of News Covering Land, People & Communities As the Livestock Industry Touts Manure-to-Energy Projects, Environmentalists Cry ‘Greenwashing’ (12/7/21) Inside Climate News reports that as utilities, oil companies, and livestock companies pitch biogas (turning manure into energy) as an emissions-reducing solution, critics say it simply locks in systems that allow two… Read More →
