Land Stewardship Project

Land Stewardship Project
  • About Us
    • Our Mission
    • Long Range Plan
    • Staff Directory
    • Board of Directors
      • LSP Board Committees
    • LSP Steering Committees & Working Groups
    • Contact Us
    • Past LSP Projects
    • Employment & Volunteer Opportunities
    • LSP Publications
    • Financial Statements
  • The Latest
    • Community Care
    • Songs for the Soil
    • CSA Farm Directory
    • Upcoming Events
    • News
      • News Releases
      • Media Contacts
      • LSP in the News
    • Blog
    • Podcast
    • Land Stewardship Letter
    • LIVE-WIRE Sign-up
    • Myth Busters
    • Fact Sheets
    • Farm Crisis Resources
  • For Farmers & Landowners
    • Farmland Clearinghouse
    • New Farmers
      • Farm Beginnings Class
      • Journeyperson Course
      • Farm Dreams
      • Accessing Farmland
      • Farmland Clearinghouse
      • Beginning/Retiring Farmer Tax Credit
      • Beginning Farmer Profiles
      • Fresh Voices Podcast Series
    • Retiring Farmers & Landowners
      • Farmland Clearinghouse
      • Farm Transition Planning Course
      • 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
      • Soil Health Steering Committee Members
    • Cropping Systems Calculator
    • Conservation Leases
  • Creating Change
    • Community-Based Food Systems
      • Ear Bites
    • Policy Campaigns
      • Soil Health & Climate Change
      • Healthcare
      • Factory Farms
        • Anti-Competitiveness & Price Gouging
        • LSP Powerline Story Center
      • Federal Policy
        • A Farm Bill For Us
      • State Policy
        • MN Farm, Food & Climate Funding
      • Developing Leadership
    • Justice & Stewardship
    • Organizational Stewardship
  • Get Involved
    • Your Membership Matters
    • Take Action!
    • Upcoming Events
    • Land Stewardship Action Fund
    • Connect with LSP
      • Stay Connected
      • Join, Donate, or Renew Today!
      • Shop
      • Employment & Volunteer Opportunities
      • Legacy Giving
    • Network with LSP Members
      • Farmland Clearinghouse
      • Soil Health
    • Farmland Clearinghouse
  • Join, Donate, or Renew Today!
  • Stay Connected
  • Contact Us
  • Shop
Search
More...

Stand with Emerging & BIPOC Farmers Today

Key Senate Hearing Monday, April 8

April 4, 2024

Share

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • email

We wanted to reach out to fill you in on what is going on at the Minnesota Legislature when it comes to the prioritization of emerging farmers in Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) and Rural Finance Authority (RFA) programs.

While we laid out the full context in this blog, here are the top five things you need to know:

  1. Last year, we celebrated the historic investments in emerging farmers that we won at the Minnesota Capitol. One of these wins included doubling the funding for and prioritizing emerging farmer applicants within the Minnesota Farmland Down Payment Assistance Program, which the Land Stewardship Project (LSP) worked on with the Midwest Farmers of Color Collective (MFCC) and the Latino Economic Development Center (LEDC).
  2. Earlier this year, a right-wing California-based law firm began waging a “discrimination” lawsuit over the prioritization of emerging farmers. They recruited one of the 106 applicants in August of 2023 who did not receive a Down Payment Assistance Grant to be their plaintiff — a white, male farmer from Northern Minnesota who does not fit the “emerging” definition.
  3. Because of the current state of our court system, particularly the U.S. Supreme Court, the state Legislature has no choice but to change prioritization of Minnesota Department of Agriculture and Rural Finance Authority Programs to be “race neutral.” It is likely that, if this lawsuit goes forward, the plaintiffs will be successful. The existence of the Down Payment Assistance Program and programs like it across sectors (i.e. education, housing) and states are at risk.
  4. Because LSP has the capacity, legislative experience, and relationships with lawmakers to dedicate to this issue, we have helped coordinate a group of emerging farmer-led and emerging farmer-serving organizations to ensure the new statute is strong and to raise our voices in hearings about the pervasiveness of racism in our farm and food system. LSP’s Land Access & Emerging Farmers Policy Working Group has also been engaged in this work.
  5. The farmers and organizations involved have works-hopped bill language with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture that folks are comfortable moving forward with, considering the circumstances.If you are an emerging farmer, we want to hear from you. Would you be prioritized in these programs under the new proposed language? Please take our 2-minute survey here!

    Emerging Farmers: Take the Survey Here

As you may have seen, a group of LSP members, organizers, and partners published a commentary in the Star Tribune earlier this week. We wrote:

“Lawsuits like this are a distraction from what we should really be asking: Why are we allowing industrial agriculture to swallow up a massive majority of public funding in our farm and food system while the rest of us are left fighting over the crumbs? … When lawsuits like this are filed, it’s important to ask: Who benefits by maintaining the status quo? In this case, corporate interests. By keeping us fighting over the scraps of public resources, corporate interests pit emerging farmers and small and mid-sized non-emerging farmers against each other. This helps distract the public’s attention away from how much public support is shoveled into corporate welfare. Rather than scapegoating emerging farmers, we have an opportunity to build solidarity and change how the system is failing all of us, no matter our backgrounds.”

Rather than fighting over a tiny sliver of the pie, we can make the Upper Midwest the best place to start a farm by providing all the resources, capital, training, and technical assistance aspiring, beginning, and emerging farmers need to start and sustain successful farms. Rather than be distracted by a culture war, emerging and non-emerging small and mid-sized farmers need to band together and fight for more.

Please read and share this commentary! Circulating our narrative is part of how we can change the public conversation about racism in our farm and food system.

Read & Share the Commentary

Lastly, I want to invite you to join us next week. The legislation to replace the prioritization of emerging farmers in statute is being heard on Monday, April 8, at 3 p.m., in the Minnesota Senate Agriculture, Broadband, and Rural Development Committee. If you are able, please join us in the audience to stand in solidarity with BIPOC farmers. The hearing is being held at the Minnesota Senate Building, Hearing Room 1150.

Category: Action Alerts
Tags: emerging farmers • farmland access • Minnesota Legislature • racial discrimination • racial justice

Contact

Amanda Koehler, LSP Policy Manager, e-mail

Upcoming Events

×

July 2025

Wednesday July 9

12:00 pm – 2:00 pm
LSP Lewiston Office Summer Potluck Lunch
Wednesday July 9
12:00 pm – 2:00 pm
LSP Lewiston Office Summer Potluck Lunch
Land Stewardship Project, 180 E Main St, Lewiston, MN 55952, USA

Spring planting is behind us and midsummer is upon us! Take a quick break from all the action by celebrating summer with the Land Stewardship Project by joining us for lunch at our Lewiston office.

Our Summer Potluck will be held on Wednesday, July 9, from noon to 2 p.m., at our office in downtown Lewiston, Minn. (180 E. Main Street). This will be an opportunity to build community, hear from other farmers, socialize, and enjoy a great meal together. We also invite everyone to take a self-guided tour of the newly renovated spaces in our office that we have been working on over the winter. As a member-driven organization, this is your space too.

LSP will be providing the main dish (meat and vegetarian options) and we invite you to bring a dish to pass. This event is open to all, so please bring a friend or two as well. Let’s celebrate the joy of summer through good food and good company!

RSVP’s are encouraged, but not required. Hope to see you there — you can RSVP by e-mailing LSP’s Alex Romano direct.

Saturday July 12

10:00 am – 2:00 pm
Fishing, Farming & Food: Rush Creek's Fish Kill Anniversary & Why it Matters
Saturday July 12
10:00 am – 2:00 pm
Fishing, Farming & Food: Rush Creek's Fish Kill Anniversary & Why it Matters
Farmers Community Park, 23274 Arches Road Lewiston, MN 55952

During the Fishing, Farming & Food: Rush Creek’s Fish Kill Anniversary & Why it Matters event, the Land Stewardship Project will mark the three-year anniversary of a major fish kill in southeastern Minnesota that spawned citizen action and led to new public policy around how such events are reported. Join Land Stewardship Project and our partners at Farmers Park, Saturday July 12, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Lewiston, Minnesota. Register here.

What to expect?

  • Fly fishing demonstration led by Minnesota Trout Unlimted and LSP member, Lee Stoe. Please bring your own fishing gear.

  • Minnesota Trout Unlimited & Izaak Walton League staff and members will be leading macroinvertebrate sampling of Garvin Brook and discussing what they tell us about the health of the stream.

  • Discussion on how regenerative farming systems can support healthy soil and clean water.

  • Opportunity to take action! Help prevent future fish kills by sharing how you think the Minnesot Feedlot Rule, which is open for comment through July 22, should be stronger. Postcards will be available to fill out and send with your comments.

  • Farmers Park is a great spot for birding. Please bring your binoculars!

  • You are welcome to bring your own snacks or picnic lunch; food will not be provided at this event.

LSP is partnering with several community groups for this event, including:

Minnesota Trout Unlimited, Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, Izaak Walton League, Food & Water Watch, and Savanna Institute

Register HERE. For more information, contact LSP’s Kate Rowe at krowe@landstewardshipproject.org.

Tuesday July 15

5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Organic Fruit & Vegetable Field Day
Tuesday July 15
5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Organic Fruit & Vegetable Field Day
1805 Dudley Ave, Falcon Heights, MN 55113, USA

Join U of M researchers and Extension for updates on organic fruit and vegetable research and tour the Student Organic Farm and the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station in Saint Paul. Topics include: organic insect management, integrating livestock into vegetable farms, new crops for Minnesota, irrigation strategies, and more. Free to the public.
 
For details and to register, click here.

Wednesday July 16

9:30 am – 2:30 pm
Russell Hedrick Soil Health Event: Cottonwood County
Wednesday July 16
9:30 am – 2:30 pm
Russell Hedrick Soil Health Event: Cottonwood County
27092 Co Rd 8, Comfrey, MN 56019, USA

Details here.

Thursday July 17

9:30 am – 2:30 pm
Russell Hedrick Soil Health Event: Pipestone County
Thursday July 17
9:30 am – 2:30 pm
Russell Hedrick Soil Health Event: Pipestone County
518 30th Ave, Jasper, MN 56182

Details are here.

View Full Calendar

Recent Posts

  • ‘Fishing, Farming & Food: Rush Creek’s Fish Kill Anniversary & Why it Matters’ Event July 12 Near Lewiston July 8, 2025
  • Contributing to the Cause July 8, 2025
  • Contact the MPCA by July 22 About Revising its Feedlot Rules July 2, 2025
  • Tell Your Representatives: We Want a Farm Bill for All, Not a Tax Break for the Wealthiest July 2, 2025
  • U.S. Supreme Court’s Decline of Iowa Case Bolsters Local Control July 2, 2025

Montevideo

111 North 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

  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2025 Land Stewardship Project. All rights reserved.

https://landstewardshipproject.org/stand-with-emerging-bipoc-farmers-today