Land Stewardship Project

Land Stewardship Project
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Justice & Stewardship

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The Land Stewardship Project envisions a food and farming system and thriving, healthy communities that work for everyone, no exceptions.

In 2020, LSP members and others in Litchfield, Minn., called for justice in the wake of the murder of George Floyd.

Whether Black or white, immigrant or Indigenous, working class or middle class, queer or straight, man, woman, or non-binary, we all deserve dignified, productive, and creative lives.

Racism, patriarchy, and economic injustice are major barriers to accomplishing the Land Stewardship Project’s mission. Therefore, we must dismantle these systems of oppression and lift up collective liberation so we can all be free to live healthy and vibrant lives together.

As we care for the soil, we participate in the healing of the land. As we work to understand each other and eliminate oppression, we participate in the healing of community. Because we believe people and the land belong together, these aspects of stewardship and healing are inseparable.

Racial Justice Cohorts

During the past few years, the Land Stewardship Project has convened racial justice cohorts during which participants, working with people of color, learn how they can advance justice and equity in their communities. To participate in an upcoming cohort, contact one of the LSP organizers listed in the sidebar on the right side of this page.

Subscribe to LSP’s Racial Justice E-letter

Amplify! is a Land Stewardship Project e-letter featuring updates, action items, and resources for LSP members engaging in racial justice work in their communities. To subscribe, click here.

Rural Voices for Racial Justice Videos

Check out our recent video series, “Rural Voices for Racial Justice,” which features LSP members across the Upper Midwest who are amplifying their voices for racial justice in the food and farming system. 

  • Abigail Hindson reminds us that we need to move beyond fear and white silence to stand up for the common good.
  • Dayna Burtness talks about how structural racism is real and that we need to pull together and have a sense of urgency around implementing solutions together.
  • Ben Doherty reminds us that when we talk about working to make things better for future generations, we should be working to do that for everybody’s kids and grandkids.
  • Eva Barr says, “If we’re committed to diversifying our fields in the interest of building our soil, we need to be committed to diversifying our society on the landscape to save our planet.”

What We Mean by Economic, Gender & Racial Justice*

Systemic economic injustice, structural racism, and gender inequity are major barriers to the advancement of LSP’s mission. These forces are interconnected and impact every facet of our work. Understanding how they affect our work and ultimately dismantling these systems of oppression is required for LSP to achieve the change we seek in the world. Addressing systemic injustices also gives us the opportunity to participate in the healing part of the movement. As we care for the soil, we participate in the healing of the land. As we work to understand each other and eliminate oppression, we participate in the healing of community. Moving forward, we will use the following descriptions to understand how our work is impacted by these powerful inequities and how we will work to dismantle them.

Economic Justice

We believe that each person has the right to have a dignified, productive, and creative life. We depend on each other, and we are invested in each other’s success. However, the economy we live in today is controlled by major corporations, which prioritize their profits and control above all else. Huge corporations exert influence over every aspect of our farm and food system, consolidating wealth, land, and profits for a few while rural communities and the land suffer.

What we need is an economy that supports the family-sized farms that are on the land now and expands land access and secures land tenure for all people who want to farm, including people of color, Indigenous people, and women. We need a people-centered economy and a people-centered government that support opportunities for meaningful work with compensation which allows families to flourish. We need quality housing, services, and infrastructure that connect us and allow for innovation. We envision stronger connections among people who live, work, and eat in rural, urban, and suburban communities, allowing them to build a shared prosperity together. We believe economic decisions should be shaped by the people directly impacted by them; these decisions about natural resources and the land should serve the people and promote stewardship of the earth.

Gender Justice

To achieve the vibrant, resilient communities we envision, everyone’s energies and full creative potential must be unleashed. This can’t happen without equity in opportunity for everyone, whatever gender identity they have. Women and gender non-conforming people increasingly make up the ranks of farmers. They have been essential farm partners for generations, and many more are inheriting farms and becoming beginning farmers.

We embrace all as farmers and welcome everyone who aspires to farm and care for the land. Family farms are part of the multitude of farming operations and relationships that make up LSP’s membership. There are many different kinds of household and small community relationships and structures that people rely on to farm together, and there are new kinds of farms emerging all the time. All of these farms matter and are part of the fabric of small and mid-sized farms that LSP believes is essential to stewardship of the land.

Women and gender non-binary people, those who farm and those who do not, are leaders in our communities, and their power and ability to create positive change grows with the advancement of gender justice.

LSP has the opportunity to demonstrate in practice what gender equity looks like and can mean for all of us. Ensuring one’s full contribution paves the way for a society based on stewardship, sustainability, economic justice, and racial equity.

Racial Justice

LSP believes every person — of any race, rural or urban, old or young — has value that can’t be earned or taken away. We believe healthy rural communities and sustainable agriculture are not possible without addressing racism and racial disparities in our communities and valuing the wisdom and contributions of people from all backgrounds. We all benefit when we are united behind a common goal of a society where everyone can thrive. We believe that achieving racial equity is the work of white people in collaboration with people of color and Indigenous communities. Towards this goal, LSP seeks to lead as a mostly white, mostly rural membership organization to act in real and sustained solidarity. This work takes many forms and we are learning as we move forward. In January 2017, LSP’s management team
adopted five strategies to advance racial justice:

• Organizing white rural Midwesterners, leading with values, and winning on issues that matter to
them, while being explicit that we stand for racial justice, and linking to the larger movement for
stewardship and justice that we are helping to build.
• Racial justice training, education, action, and analysis with LSP’s staff, members, and leaders.
• Movement organizing — LSP joining with, sometimes following and sometimes providing
leadership to, an emerging multi-racial movement of allies, working to achieve economic,
environmental, gender, and racial justice.
• Showing up and standing with allied organizations and communities of color and indigenous
communities that come under attack.
• Responding directly and effectively to racist statements and actions.

Furthermore, we recognize that the founding of the U.S. was via migrations of peoples from Europe and elsewhere, imposing new borders on land already occupied by Indigenous peoples. Today we are seeing increasing migrations of peoples across the world due to violence, stress over resources, and the effects of the climate crisis. We recognize our interconnection with such refugees and migrants as people like ourselves, seeking opportunity and security for their loved ones. Rather than build walls to exclude others, we understand the need to heal the planet and the violence that plagues our nations.

It is only by actively engaging in the dismantling of each of these types of systemic oppression
that we can achieve the truly sustainable and regenerative food and farming systems that we
want and need.

* This language taken from the Land Stewardship Project’s long range plan: Vision for the Future: 5 Year Plan 2019-2024.

Racial Justice Fact Sheets

• Justice on the Land: Responding to Police Violence

• White Nationalism & White Supremacy

Related Posts

  • Soil Health & Racial Justice — What?!

    April 5, 2022

    The Questions…
    What does soil health have to do with racial justice? Why does the Land Stewardship Project write articles and posts about racial justice for…

    Blog
    agriculture policy, economic justice, local food systems, racial justice, regional food systems, soil health, state policy
    Soil Health & Racial Justice — What?!
  • Ear to the Ground 188: Telling a New Story About Race

    Autumn Brown talks about how we can counter the myths that lead to racial injustice in rural America and elsewhere.

    Ear to the Ground 188: Telling a New Story About Race
  • Ear to the Ground No. 249: It’s Not Lost, it Just Went to Sleep

    https://landstewardshipproject.org/podcast-player/3905/ear-to-the-ground-no-249-its-not-lost-it-just-went-to-sleep.mp3

    Download file | Play in new window | Duration: 46:15 | Recorded on April 29, 2021

    Ella Robertson and Eric Wana of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate in northeastern South Dakota talk about reawakening their people’s connections to farming, the land, and…

    Ear to the Ground No. 249: It’s Not Lost, it Just Went to Sleep

Contact

• Nick Olson, LSP organizer
e-mail, 320-269-1057
• Alex Romano, LSP organizer
e-mail, 612-767-9880
• Clara Sanders, LSP organizer
e-mail, 612-400-6340

 

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Upcoming Events

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May 2022

Wednesday May 18

4:00 pm – 5:30 pm
LSP Food Systems Virtual Listening Session
LSP Food Systems Virtual Listening Session
Wednesday May 18
4:00 pm – 5:30 pm

The Land Stewardship Project will hold a virtual listening session on regional food systems. Register here.

Thursday May 19

5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
LSP Grazing Group Pasture Walk
LSP Grazing Group Pasture Walk
Thursday May 19
5:00 pm – 8:00 pm

LSP will hold a Grazing Group Pasture Walk at Oak Creek Pastures in Ossian, Iowa. Sign-in for this free event begins at 4:45 p.m. Supper will be provided; suggested $3-$5 meal contribution.

Scott & Amanda Holthaus of Oak Creek Pastures are hosting a pasture walk for area graziers to show cattle grazing on crop-ground planted last fall to a diverse winter cover mix (rye, vetch, triticale, winter barley) and results of winter bale grazing on permanent pasture. There will be a discussion around fencing and watering considerations for maximizing grazing days.
 
Register at https://secure.everyaction.com/aYx1CibrAUaEu0XVPjqlIw2.

Friday May 20

12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
Farm Bill Listening Session for Retiring Farmers, Non-operating Landowners
Farm Bill Listening Session for Retiring Farmers, Non-operating Landowners
Friday May 20
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm

Join the Land Stewardship Project on Friday, May 20, from noon-1 p.m., for a virtual conversation with other retiring farmers and non-operating landowners to discuss how federal policy could better support your efforts to build a more just and resilient agricultural system. To register, click here.

Saturday May 21

5:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Farmer Fiesta at Whitewater State Park
Farmer Fiesta at Whitewater State Park
Saturday May 21
5:00 pm – 7:00 pm

Get to know other farmers and learn about conservation programs while enjoying a build-your-own taco bar with locally grown foods and ice cream served by the Winona County Dairy Princess. After supper, area farmer and soil conservationist Martin Larsen will share his experiences caving below the farm fields of southeastern Minnesota. Reserve a spot for this free Friends of Whitewater State Park event by e-mailing sara.holger@state.mn.us or calling 507-312-2308.

Tuesday May 24

12:00 pm – 1:30 pm
LSP Food Systems In-Person Listening Session
LSP Food Systems In-Person Listening Session
Tuesday May 24
12:00 pm – 1:30 pm

The Land Stewardship Project will be holding an in-person listening session on regional food systems in Montevideo, Minn. Register here.

View Full Calendar

Recent Posts

  • Let’s Get a Robust State Budget Across the Finish Line! May 17, 2022
  • Only 13 Days Left to Invest in Farmers May 10, 2022
  • Rural Voices Hold More Power Than You Think May 5, 2022
  • Legislative Session Heads into its Final Days May 4, 2022
  • LSP Pasture Walk to Feature Spring Grazing of Cover Crops May 19 near Ossian  April 25, 2022

Montevideo

117 South First Street
Montevideo, MN 56265

(320) 269-2105

Lewiston

180 E. Main Street
Lewiston, MN 55952

(507) 523-3366

Minneapolis

821 E. 35th Street #200
Minneapolis, MN 55407

(612) 722-6377

Copyright © 2022 Land Stewardship Project. All rights reserved.

https://landstewardshipproject.org/social-justice-stewardship