Earlier this month, Land Stewardship Project farmer-members James Kanne and Adam Griebie flew to Washington, D.C., with me for a few days to gather with farmers and organizers from across the Midwest who are a part of the Campaign for Family Farms and the Environment and to meet with members of Congress about our shared… Read More →
Diversified, small, and mid-sized farmers deserve to have a strong safety net. Yet, most don’t. Why? Crop insurance isn’t accessible or worthwhile for most small, mid-sized, and diversified farms. Take it from Andy Petran, a Land Stewardship Project member and Farmington, Minn.-area farmer, who wrote the following in a recent Star Tribune op-ed: “Farming has always… Read More →
Big Ag and its friends in Congress hope to send more money into the pockets of a few mega-sized commodity farms through one of the most popular commodity programs in the Farm Bill — crop insurance. This windfall will be at the expense of working lands conservation programs and small and mid-sized farms. Their proposal… Read More →
Adam Griebie’s agricultural stewardship ethic has been bolstered by federal farm policy, but there’s room for improvement. More Information • LSP’s 2023 Farm Bill Platform • LSP’s Federal Policy Web Page You can find LSP Ear to the Ground podcast episodes on Spotify, Pandora, iTunes, and other podcast platforms.
Farmers are uniquely positioned to both mitigate and build resiliency when it comes to climate change. Farmers are on the front lines of managing extreme weather events, emerging pests and disease, degraded topsoil, altered planting and harvesting timing, dwindling pollinator populations, and more. At the same time, small and mid-sized farmers are facing consolidation, financial… Read More →
Land access is the top challenge emerging and beginning farmers face. At the same time, ownership of millions of acres of agricultural land is changing hands as farmers and ranchers across the country retire — presenting an important opportunity to shape the future of our farm and food system. This is the moment for Congress… Read More →
Last week, the “Increasing Land Access, Security, and Opportunities (LASO) Act” was introduced in the U.S. Senate, championed by Minnesota Senator Tina Smith. If enacted, this innovative bill, via the 2023 Farm Bill, would fund powerful, community-led solutions to the land access crisis faced by the new generation of young and Black farmers, Indigenous farmers, and… Read More →
ORONOCO, Minn. — Southeastern Minnesota farmer Angela Smith had an important message for lawmakers when she traveled to the nation’s capital earlier this month: small and diversified farmers, as well as beginning farmers, need much better access to crop insurance in order to survive and thrive at a time of extreme climate change. Smith, who is… Read More →
LSP farmer-members talk about how the 2023 Farm Bill could benefit the land, people, and rural communities (2nd of 2 parts). More Information • Ear to the Ground 304: Policy for the People (1st installment in this series) • LSP’s Federal Policy Page • LSP 2023 Farm Bill Platform You can find LSP Ear to… Read More →
Perhaps no single piece of legislation has a more profound impact on what our landscape and rural communities look like. That’s why LSP’s members are working hard to influence the 2023 Farm Bill (1st of 2 parts). More Information • Ear to the Ground 305: Farm Bill as a Public Good (2nd installment in this… Read More →
