In western Minnesota we live in what used to be a grassland habitat, where warm season perennials were king and the whole system depended on herds of buffalo and the occasional wildfire to break down the abundance of plant material. These days, it’s becoming clear leaving our remaining prairies untouched does not create a healthy… Read More →
The call came in the night. On the end of the line was the panicked voice of Tyler Carlson, a 26-year-old beginning farmer who was starting a grazing operation in west-central Minnesota. It seems that while making a long-distance move of the cowherd he had just purchased a few days before, a baby calf had… Read More →
The call came in the night. On the end of the line was the panicked voice of Tyler Carlson, a 26-year-old beginning farmer who was starting a grazing operation in west-central Minnesota. It seems that while making a long-distance move of the cowherd he had just purchased a few days before, a baby calf had… Read More →
CUMBERLAND, Iowa — Here in southwestern Iowa, it’s the season of the white torpedo. Once it seemed spring wasn’t fake news, pickup trucks began towing to winter-dormant fields tubular tanks of gaseous anhydrous ammonia fertilizer here and in the rest of the Corn Belt. These white cylinders are the harbingers of a new planting season… Read More →
On a recent morning in late February, a couple dozen farmers stood in front of a wall of words and pictures, imagining what the future might look like. Just a few minutes before, the farmers had sat at tables in a sunny room of the Chatfield Center for the Arts in southeastern Minnesota, using felt-tipped… Read More →
The $1.7 Trillion Landlord: New USDA Data Reveals the Shifting Face of Ownership (3/12/26) Farm Journal reports on new USDA showing a 47% surge in rented farmland value over the past decade, even as the footprint of available acreage shrinks. With $1.7 trillion in assets now held by a shifting demographic of landlords, the landscape… Read More →
MONTEVIDEO, Minn. — As federal officials escalate attacks on immigrants in Minnesota, the Land Stewardship Project (LSP) is more committed than ever to working with its allies to ensure all members of rural communities are treated in a just and fair manner, according to an LSP organizer who has a long history of working with… 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 →
As Struggling Farmers Take On Debt, a Bailout From D.C. May Come Too Late (11/17/25) The Trump administration is receptive to the idea of using government aid to soften the blow of trade wars and an unprofitable harvest, but it’s doubtful aid would arrive in time to rescue the next planting season, according to The… Read More →
Outraged Farmers Blame Ag Monopolies as Catastrophic Collapse Looms (9/9/25) Farm Journal describes a tumultuous meeting in Brookland, Ark., where 400-plus farmers met with field representatives from the offices of U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, U.S. Sen. John Boozman, and U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford, along with a representative sent by Gov. Sarah Sanders. The farmers raised… Read More →
