Land Stewardship Project

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Soil Health

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Building Soil Health Profitably

The Land Stewardship Project’s Bridge to Soil Health initiative works with crop and livestock farmers and other professionals that view soil as a long-term investment. LSP acts as a bridge between emerging soil health information and local farming practices, thereby uniting a community of farmers as the Soil Builders’ Network. Join the network to get regular updates on workshops, field days, on-farm demonstrations, and emerging soil health research. Soil health is imperative to our ecological health, and it includes the integration of cover crops, annual crops, perennials, and livestock on the agricultural landscape. Soil regeneration is the answer to restoring the soil’s natural productivity, improving profits, protecting water quality, building resiliency into crops, sequestering carbon, and helping to reverse the trends of climate change.

Join the Soil Builders’ Network

The Land Stewardship Project invites crop and livestock farmers to join the southeastern Minnesota-based Soil Builders’ Network to get regular updates on workshops, field days and on-farm demonstrations, as well as soil health and cover crop research. To sign-up, click here.

Soil Health Topic Web Pages:

• Cover Crops
• Grazing
• No-till
• Microbiology
• Soil Builders’ E-letter

LSP's 'Power of Soil Health' 2022 Billboard Campaign, Southern MN

Field Days & Workshops

Check out our LSP’s web calendar for the latest field Days, workshops  and pasture walks.

Soil Builders' Video Page

Check out LSP’s new series of videos featuring farmers who are utilizing various methods to build soil health profitably.

Ear Dirt Soil Health Podcast Series

Check out LSP’s ongoing Ear Dirt podcast series for conversations on cover cropping, no-till, managed rotational grazing, fungi, and just about anything else that builds soil health.

Got an Idea?

If you have an idea you’d like to have featured in a video, blog, podcast, or field day, contact us.

Soil Health Pocket Guide

LSP’s Soil Health, Water & Climate Change: A Pocket Guide to What You Need to Know, is available as a pdf document or as a mobile-friendly app.

Report: Building the Bridge to Soil Health

In October 2020, a special LSP report was published: “Building the Bridge to Soil Health: The Power of Organizing Farmer-to-Farmer Engagement.” It describes the organization’s experience with launching the Bridge to Soil Health initiative. The report is available here.

Soil Health Blogs, Podcasts & Stories

  • Podcast: How farmers involved in an LSP research project hope to use the Johnson-Su Bioreactor composting system to spark a chain reaction of underground ecological activity. 
  • Podcast: Martin Larsen’s integration of small grains into his cropping operation is centered on building economic and ecological resiliency beyond the next growing season.
  • Podcast: Tillage can do a lot of things, but building soil isn’t one of them. Soil expert Steve Lawler and Minnesota farmer Jon Jovaag talk about the importance of using nature as a guide when preparing a seed bed and bolstering the soil’s structure. (9/13/21)
  •  Podcast: Soil health cheerleader Ray Archuleta and Iowa farmer Mervin Beachy talk about taking agroecological innovations from the “excitement stage” to the “action stage”…and the importance of aha moments. (9/5/21)
  • Podcast: What happened when beginning farmers Rachelle and Jordan Meyer started listening to the land and turned livestock loose on a “bacterial farm.” (9/1/21)
  • Blog: Jeepers Cats That’s Some Healthy Soil! (8/26/21)
  • Blog: Red Rooster Ranch: Spreading the Cover Crop Message (11/6/20)
  • Podcast: How farmers Dawn & Grant Breitkreutz are building soil carbon & bolstering profitability. (2/20/20)
  • Ear to the Ground 260: Soil Health’s Long View

    https://landstewardshipproject.org/podcast-player/5507/ear-to-the-ground-260-soil-healths-long-view.mp3

    Download file | Play in new window | Duration: 21:03 | Recorded on October 25, 2021

    Martin Larsen’s integration of small grains into his cropping operation is centered on building economic and ecological resiliency beyond the next growing season.

    For more information…

    Ear to the Ground 260: Soil Health’s Long View
  • ‘Test Plots, Cover Crop Interseeding, Pollinators & Grazing’ Field Day Sept. 30 on Lawler Farm Near Eyota

    September 13, 2022
    https://landstewardshipproject.org/podcast-player/5507/ear-to-the-ground-260-soil-healths-long-view.mp3

    Download file | Play in new window | Duration: 21:03 | Recorded on October 25, 2021

    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…

    News Releases
    cover crops, interseeding, no-till, organic, pollinators, rotational grazing, soil health
    ‘Test Plots, Cover Crop Interseeding, Pollinators & Grazing’ Field Day Sept. 30 on Lawler Farm Near Eyota
  • Cover Crop ROI & All That Matters

    July 27, 2022
    https://landstewardshipproject.org/podcast-player/5507/ear-to-the-ground-260-soil-healths-long-view.mp3

    Download file | Play in new window | Duration: 21:03 | Recorded on October 25, 2021

    Note: Earlier this summer, Land Stewardship Project soil health organizer Alex Romano reached out to one of our soil health steering committee members, Mike Seifert…

    Blog
    Braiding Sweetgrass, climate change, cover crops, Dana Seifert, Mike Seifert, ROI, soil health, Uninhabitable Earth
    Cover Crop ROI & All That Matters

Soil Health Team

    • Shona Langseth, Programs Department co-director,
      612-767-9886, e-mail
    • Alex Romano, grazing,
      612-767-9880, e-mail
    • Barbara Sogn-Frank, field crops,
      612-400-6357, e-mail
    • Robin Moore, non-operating landowners,
      612-767-9480, e-mail
    • Maura Curry, field crops,
      612-767-9882, e-mail
  • For Farmers & Landowners
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      • Beginning/Retiring Farmer Tax Credit
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    • Retiring Farmers & Landowners
      • Farmland Clearinghouse
      • Conservation Leases
      • Beginning/Retiring Farmer Tax Credit
      • Land Transition Tools
      • Transition Stories
    • Soil Health
      • Cover Crops
      • Grazing
      • No-till
      • Microbiology
      • Soil Builders’ Network
      • Soil Builders’ E-Letters
    • Cropping Systems Calculator
    • Conservation Leases
  • Join, Donate, or Renew
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Upcoming Events

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February 2023

Monday February 6

8:30 am – 1:30 pm
Crop, Livestock & Soil Innovation Conferences Workshop
Crop, Livestock & Soil Innovation Conferences Workshop
Monday February 6
8:30 am – 1:30 pm

The Land Stewardship Project is a co-sponsor of the 2023 I-90 & Highway 14 Tour CLASIC. Network, learn, and get inspired with area farmers and regional farming innovators as we discuss current trends for improving productivity and profitability in crop and livestock operations utilizing soil-healthy practices. The Crop, Livestock, and Soil Innovation Conferences (CLASIC) is made up of two tours in Minnesota, traveling along Interstate 90 and Highway 14, consisting of several stops.

Click this link for more details and a complete listing of workshops. Each venue’s program is unique and varied — be sure to check them all out and register for multiple events.

The speaker for the Feb. 6 event will be Dean Sponheim, a fourth-generation farmer from Mitchell County, Iowa. He began strip-tilling in 1999, aerial applying cover crops in the fall of 2012, and started a cover crop seed business in 2014 and no-tilling corn and soybeans in 2019.

To register for the Feb. 6 workshop, click here.

3:30 pm – 5:30 pm
Produce Safety Alliance Grower Training Course
Produce Safety Alliance Grower Training Course
Monday February 6
3:30 pm – 5:30 pm

This Northeast Wisconsin Technical College course is for produce growers who want to navigate the best food safety practices for growing vegetable produce. It is for farmers who need to comply with this FSMA (Food Safety Modernization Act) requirement: 

“At least one supervisor or responsible party for your farm must have successfully completed food and safety training at least equivalent to that received under standardized curriculum recognized as adequate by the Food and Drug Administration.”  

Upon completion of the course, you will receive an AFDO/PSA certificate verifying that you fulfilled the requirements of the training. The cost of the certification is covered by Wisconsin Farmers Union.  

For more information, click here.

Registration: Enroll in class #22701. Call or text NWTC at 1-888-385-6982 for help enrolling or go to this link: https://www.nwtc.edu/admissions-and-aid/contact-nwtc.

Tuesday February 7

9:00 am – 12:30 pm
Wholesale Readiness Training for Farmers
Wholesale Readiness Training for Farmers
Tuesday February 7
9:00 am – 12:30 pm

MISA, UMN Extension and Renewing the Countryside are offering training and one-to-one technical assistance for farmers who want to grow their operation into wholesale markets. Wholesale isn’t just for large-scale distributors. You can use this training and support team to prepare to sell to schools, restaurants, grocery stores and hospitals in your community. Participating farmers will be eligible for $500 mini-grants to cover expenses related to launching a wholesale enterprise. 

For details, click here.

10:00 am – 2:00 pm
Crop, Livestock & Soil Innovation Conferences Workshop
Crop, Livestock & Soil Innovation Conferences Workshop
Tuesday February 7
10:00 am – 2:00 pm

The Land Stewardship Project is a co-sponsor of the 2023 I-90 & Highway 14 Tour CLASIC. Network, learn, and get inspired with area farmers and regional farming innovators as we discuss current trends for improving productivity and profitability in crop and livestock operations utilizing soil-healthy practices. The Crop, Livestock, and Soil Innovation Conferences (CLASIC) is made up of two tours in Minnesota, traveling along Interstate 90 and Highway 14, consisting of several stops.

Click this link for more details and a complete listing of workshops. Each venue’s program is unique and varied — be sure to check them all out and register for multiple events.

The speakers for the Feb. 7 workshop are Dean Sponheim and Andy Linder. Sponheim is a 4th generation farmer from Mitchell County Iowa. He began strip-tilling in 1999, aerial applying cover crops in the fall of 2012, and started a cover crop seed business in 2014 and no-tilling corn and soybeans in 2019.

Linder farms with his dad near Easton, Minn. Their soil health journey unintentionally started in 2010 when they purchased a vertical tillage machine. In fall 2016 they put cover crops on every acre.They now no-till most of their corn aces and do some strip-till trials.

For more information and to register, click here.

Wednesday February 8

9:00 am – 2:30 pm
Crop, Livestock & Soil Health Conferences Workshop
Crop, Livestock & Soil Health Conferences Workshop
Wednesday February 8
9:00 am – 2:30 pm

The Land Stewardship Project is a co-sponsor of the 2023 I-90 & Highway 14 Tour CLASIC. Network, learn, and get inspired with area farmers and regional farming innovators as we discuss current trends for improving productivity and profitability in crop and livestock operations utilizing soil-healthy practices. The Crop, Livestock, and Soil Innovation Conferences (CLASIC) is made up of two tours in Minnesota, traveling along Interstate 90 and Highway 14, consisting of several stops.

Click this link for more details and a complete listing of workshops. Each venue’s program is unique and varied — be sure to check them all out and register for multiple events.

The speakers for the Feb. 8 workshop are Dean Sponheim, Martin Larsen, and Andy Linder.

Sponheim is a fourth-generation farmer from Mitchell County, Iowa. He began strip-tilling in 1999 and began no-tilling his corn and soybean acres in 2019. Sponheim started aerial applying cover crops in 2012 and in 2014 started a cover crop seed business.

Martin Larsen farms 700 acres near Byron, Minn., producing corn, soybeans, cover crops and food-grade oats in a full no-till system. As an Olmsted County Soil and Water Conservation District staffer, he gives technical assistance to farmers and manages soil health test plots.

Andy Linder farms with his dad, Don, near Easton, Minn. Together, they raise corn, soybeans, oats, canning crops, and grass hay. Their journey to soil health unintentionally started in 2010 when they purchased a vertical tillage machine. In the fall of 2016, a cover crop was put on every acre and they continue using cover crops. He has transitioned to most corn being no-till.

For more information and to register for the Feb. 8 workshop, click here.

View Full Calendar

Recent Posts

  • Workshop on ‘3 Secrets for Increasing Farm Profit’ March 23 in Red Wing February 2, 2023
  • Regenerative Farming Systems ‘Peer-to-Peer’ Workshop March 1 in Bellechester January 26, 2023
  • Line 3 Environmental Damage & State Regulatory Failure January 12, 2023
  • ‘Exploring Conservation on Rented Farmland’ Online Workshop Jan. 24 January 3, 2023
  • Our Minnesota Food & Farm Campaign Platform December 22, 2022

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Montevideo, MN 56265

(320) 269-2105

Lewiston

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