Search Results

Searched for: transition course

Beginning Farmer Program for MN, WI & IA Accepting Applications for 2023-2024 Course

Early Bird Discount Deadline for Farm Beginnings Class Aug. 1

July 17, 2023

LEWISTON, Minn. — One of the most successful beginning farmer training programs in the country is now accepting applications for its 2023-2024 course session serving the Minnesota, western Wisconsin and northern Iowa region. The Land Stewardship Project’s (LSP) Farm Beginnings initiative is a training program that focuses on the goal-setting, marketing and financial skills aneeded to establish…  Read More →

Making Room for Relationships

How Journeyperson is Helping Racing Heart Pace Itself

By Brian DeVore
January 10, 2022

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 →

Leadership Change: A Joint Statement from the Boards of LSP & LSAF

February 23, 2021

On Friday, Feb. 12, Jess Anna Glover resigned as the executive director of the Land Stewardship Project and the Land Stewardship Action Fund. The boards of these two organizations have accepted her resignation and have proposed to engage Jess Anna as a consultant to help the board and management team take over her responsibilities. The…  Read More →

Loving the Land Enough to Let it Go

By Brian DeVore
February 12, 2012

While recording a recent LSP podcast interview with southwest Minnesota farmer Carmen Fernholz, I was reminded of how important it is that farmers identify closely with the land they’re producing a livelihood from. As Fernholz put it: “If you’re a good farmer you can’t help but become attached to the land. And when you become…  Read More →

No. 2, 2023, Land Stewardship Letter

• An online version of the Land Stewardship Letter is here. • A downloadable pdf version is here. • Archived pdf versions of the Land Stewardship Letter are here. • Archived online versions of the Land Stewardship Letter are here. • Paper copies are available by contacting Brian DeVore at 612-816-9342 or via e-mail. Table of Contents Stewardship Roots…3 • Speaking…  Read More →

Farm Beginnings Profile: Micro Goals-Big Plans

By Brian DeVore
March 15, 2015

Walking down a sloping lane on a spring afternoon, Luke and Liana Tessum surprise an Angus beef cow wandering up from a bottomland paddock. The lone bovine, and 18 cow-calf pairs grazing on the pasture below, represent the reaching of what the 30-something couple calls yet one more “micro-goal.” In December, the Tessums paid off…  Read More →

Land Line: Senate Budget Bill, Who Owns Land?, Nitrates, Conservation Cuts, Immigration, Drought When Wet, Judging Soil, Sea of Grass

By Brian DeVore (editor)
July 1, 2025

Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Clears Senate, Sending it Back to House (7/1/25) Vice President JD Vance broke a 50-50 tie in the U.S. Senate today to pass President Donald Trump’s centerpiece legislation on tax cuts and spending, the 940-page “One Big Beautiful Bill,” reports Oklahoma Farm Report. In order to pay for spending on…  Read More →

Ear to the Ground 308: Is Your Farm a Business?

Dave Pratt says most farms and ranches are just a collection of expensive assets and low-paying jobs. But such a dysfunctional business model is not inevitable. More Information • Ranch Management Consultants • LSP’s Soil Health & Grazing Page  • LSP’s Farm Beginnings Course • LSP’s Journeyperson Course • LSP’s Land Transitions Tools Page You can find…  Read More →

The Grass Master’s Apprentice

By Brian DeVore
January 17, 2018

An Innovative Farming System Requires Innovative Training One sign that you’re a solid employee is that the boss hates the idea of you walking out the door, never to return. So let’s consider the case of Ryan Heinen, who has worked on the west-central Minnesota dairy farm of Nate and Angie Walter for the past…  Read More →

Farm Beginnings Profile: Andy Cotter & Irene Genelin

Wheeling into the Future

By Brian DeVore
October 16, 2016

It’s not every day that you see the words “unicyclists” and “farming” used in the same sentence, but here we go: national and world champion unicyclists Andy Cotter and Irene Genelin launched a farming operation a half-a-dozen years ago. Now, this is the part of the story that cries out for a familiar trope like…  Read More →