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

    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
  • Ear to the Ground No. 256: From Sugar High to Soil Health

    https://landstewardshipproject.org/podcast-player/3265/ear-to-the-ground-no-256-from-sugar-high-to-soil-health.mp3

    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…

    Ear to the Ground No. 256: From Sugar High to Soil Health
  • Soil Health: From ‘Light Bulb’ Moment to Daily Practice

    March 9, 2022
    https://landstewardshipproject.org/podcast-player/3265/ear-to-the-ground-no-256-from-sugar-high-to-soil-health.mp3

    Nearly seven years ago, northeastern Iowa farmer and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) district conversationist, Todd Duncan, along with a group of local producers, started…

    Blog
    cover crops, no-till, NRCS, soil health, soil organic matter, water holding capacity
    Soil Health: From ‘Light Bulb’ Moment to Daily Practice

Soil Health Team

    • Shona Snater, 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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    • Retiring Farmers & Landowners
      • Farmland Clearinghouse
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      • Beginning/Retiring Farmer Tax Credit
      • Land Transition Tools
      • Transition Stories
    • Soil Health
      • Cover Crops
      • Grazing
      • LSP Regenerative Farming & Grazing Field Days with Allen Williams
      • No-till
      • Microbiology
      • Soil Builders’ Network
      • Soil Builders’ E-Letters
    • Cropping Systems Calculator
    • Conservation Leases
  • Join, Donate, or Renew
  • Building People Power

Upcoming Events

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August 2022

Tuesday August 9

6:30 pm – 8:00 pm
LSP Deep Canvassing Training
LSP Deep Canvassing Training
Tuesday August 9
6:30 pm – 8:00 pm

Deep canvassing is a candid, non-judgmental, two-way conversation wherecanvassers ask voters to share their relevant, emotionally significantexperiences and reflect on them aloud. It is one of the most durable and provenforms of persuasion when talking to people who might hold differing beliefs thanyou and is going to be critical in creating the world we want and need.

Join the Land Stewardship Action Fund to learn about deep canvassing, what itis and why it’s important, and get trained on how to deep canvass so you’re ableto powerfully participate in LSAF’s upcoming deep canvasses and put theseimportant skills to use in your community. Register at https://secure.everyaction.com/mLpXBrNOT0q0uzsGDRa6Ig2.

Thursday August 11

5:30 pm – 7:00 pm
LSP Food Systems Listening Event in Madison, Minn., Aug. 11
LSP Food Systems Listening Event in Madison, Minn., Aug. 11
Thursday August 11
5:30 pm – 7:00 pm

With the rising cost of food and continued supply chain issues, our communities are facing ever increasing uncertainty. Many are left asking: Where will our food come from? A more secure and sustainable food system is within our reach. If we increased direct sales of food in Minnesota to 1% of all agricultural sales, we’d have an additional $76.25 million going directly to farmers.

We need you with us to make sure we can make this a reality! Join Land Stewardship Project members and supporters on Thursday, Aug. 11, from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., in Madison, Minn.

Come and share your ideas about how we can connect farmers, consumers, and food businesses to coordinate markets and support economic development through local foods. We’ll also talk about how the next Farm Bill can help direct federal resources toward community food security, health, and economic vitality.
 
Register here.

Saturday August 13

9:30 am – 3:30 pm
Growing Peaches in Cold Climates
Growing Peaches in Cold Climates
Saturday August 13
9:30 am – 3:30 pm

Whoever thought peaches could be grown in Minnesota? Not only can we grow them here, but you will learn how to do it in a commercially viable way organically and they will be the best tasting peaches you have ever picked off your own tree. WEI presents Dan Sheild, our local expert on growing peaches in Minnesota. Learn about his innovative and effective techniques for getting the best peaches around, and how you can too!
 
To register, click here.

4:00 pm – 7:00 pm
LSP Grazing Group Pasture Walk: Cattle, Grass & Streams
LSP Grazing Group Pasture Walk: Cattle, Grass & Streams
Saturday August 13
4:00 pm – 7:00 pm

Nick and Tesla Prigge of Sugarloaf Creek Farm are hosting an LSP pasture walk for area graziers. They will show their cattle grazing system, share their farm story (including current and future plans), and look forward to conversations on various pasture and herd
management styles. There will be a discussion on including cattle grazing in riparian corridor management. Larry Gates, retired DNR Watershed Coordinator, will be a guest speaker during the riparian management section of the pasture walk.
 
Ralph Lentz began rotationally grazing the land in 1980. Ralph demonstrated it is possible to mix cattle with creeks when you are operating your farm as an ecosystem. After Ralph passed away in the fall of 2017, his grandson Nicholas Prigge and family began operating and maintaining the farm. The beef herd consists of 35 cow-calf Pinzgauer Black Angus animals grazing on 80 acres. 
 
Potluck: bring a side to share. Hamburgers will be provided by hosts featuring Sugarloaf Creek Farm beef. Bring your own utensils (plate, silverware) to help
reduce waste. Open to all graziers; do not need to be a member of LSP.
 
To register for this field day by Aug. 12, click here.
 
 

Tuesday August 16

6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
LSP Farm Bill Platform Launch
LSP Farm Bill Platform Launch
Tuesday August 16
6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

We are confronting many challenges on our farms and in our rural communities: from extreme weather to land access challenges for beginning farmers, as well as corporate interests influencing so much of our food and farming system. But we have an enormous opportunity to address these challenges through the upcoming 2023 Farm Bill! 

Join us for the Land Stewardship Project’s Farm Bill Platform Launch Aug. 16, from 6 p.m. – 8 p.m., at the Legvold Farm in Northfield, Minn.

For details and to register, click here.

View Full Calendar

Recent Posts

  • ‘No-Till, Cover Crops & Finances’ Workshop Sept. 1 at Dairy & Crop Farms Near Lewiston August 5, 2022
  • Pasture Walk to Feature Grazing of Summer Annuals & Riparian Management Aug. 13 Near Lake City August 2, 2022
  • Cover Crop ROI & All That Matters July 27, 2022
  • LSP Regenerative Farming & Grazing Field Day Aug. 17 in Winona County to Feature Allen Williams  July 12, 2022
  • LSP Regenerative Farming & Grazing Field Day Aug. 18 in Houston County to Feature Allen Williams  July 12, 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

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https://landstewardshipproject.org/soil-health