clean water

Land Line: Mental Health & Land Health, Ag Income Decline, Canadian Eggs, Tariffs & Fertilizer, Banned Verbiage, Weather Disaster, Community Hub

By Brian DeVore

April 14, 2025

Farmers Face One of the Highest Rates of Suicide. This Social Worker Believes the Solution is Buried in Their Land (4/10/25) The Guardian newspaper describes how a social worker in Kansas has developed the LandLogic Model, a new way to train healthcare providers that uses farmers’ relationship to their land to identify and treat depression,… Read More →

Category: Blog

LSP Demands Answers Surrounding Recent Manure Spill in Kandiyohi County

Riverview's Meadow Star Dairy Suffers Manure Leak From Biogas Digester System

March 7, 2025

PENNOCK, Minn. — The Land Stewardship Project (LSP) today called on one of the country’s largest dairy farming firms and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) to release details on a recent manure spill that was reported in southwestern Minnesota’s Kandiyohi County. According to the West Central Tribune, Riverview, LLP officials reported to state officials that… Read More →

Category: News Releases

Tags: CAFOs • clean water • dairy farming • factory farm • manure digesters • Manure spills • MPCA • Riverview

Ask Your MN Representative to Co-Author LSP’s Manure Management Reform Legislation

April 24, 2024

Over the past few decades, the dominant push in agriculture has been for farms to grow larger and for the industry to consolidate into a few hands to maximize profits. One of the many ways the biggest have been able to get bigger at the expense of small and mid-sized farmers, rural communities, and our… Read More →

Category: Action Alerts

Tags: CAFO • clean water • factory farm • livestock production • manure • Manure spills • Minnesota Legislature • nitrate pollution

Support Lowered Environmental Review Thresholds for Manure Digesters

April 19, 2024

Every three years, the Minnesota Environmental Quality Board (EQB) publishes an updated Mandatory Category Report detailing project types that require environmental review in our state. Examples of Mandatory Categories included in this report include pipeline projects or feedlot expansions. Currently, the EQB is soliciting input from the public on the mandatory categories or their decision… Read More →

Category: Action Alerts

Tags: CAFOs • clean water • Environmental Quality Board • factory farms • manure • methane digesters

Make Your Voice Heard on Nitrates, Soil & Clean Water

2 Legislative Hearings in Saint Paul: Feb. 26 & 29

February 23, 2024

The 2024 Minnesota legislative session has begun in Saint Paul and nitrate contamination is top of mind for our legislators. Next week, committees in both the State House and Senate will host hearings about nitrates in our soil and water. This is an opportunity to make it known that Minnesotans expect our state’s decisionmakers to… Read More →

Category: Action Alerts

Tags: clean water • karst • Minnesota Legislature • nitrate pollution • regenerative farming • soil health • state policy

LSP’s 2024 Minnesota Legislative Platform

The Session Begins Feb. 12

By Amanda Koehler

January 23, 2024

Since the 2023 session of the Minnesota Legislature ended last May, Land Stewardship Project members have been celebrating our historic wins and preparing to build upon them during the 2024 session, which begins Monday, Feb. 12. This past summer and fall, LSP organizers engaged in hundreds of one-to-one and group conversations with LSP members, supporters,… Read More →

Category: Blog

Tags: CAFOs • clean water • climate change • factory farms • farm-to-school • Minnesota Legislature • regional food systems • soil health • state policy

LSP Media Statement on Amicus Filing by ‘Ag Groups’ in Daley Farm Court Case

January 10, 2024

LEWISTON, Minn. — On Jan. 4, five “agricultural groups” filed an amici curiae (friend of the court) motion with the Minnesota Court of Appeals in support of Daley Farm’s request that a recent District Court ruling be overturned, thus allowing the Lewiston dairy operation to circumvent Winona County’s zoning rules related to livestock operation size.… Read More →

Category: News Releases

Tags: CAFO • clean water • dairy crisis • Daley Farm • factory farm • local control • local democracy • SLAPP • Winona County

Ear to the Ground 325: Return of the Fence

Matt and Seth Tentis of White Barn Acres are creating a soil-smart farm using a mix of livestock, continuous living cover, and experimentation — with a healthy dose of community support tossed in for good measure. More Information • White Barn Acres • LSP’s Soil Health Web Page • LSP’s 2023 Field Day Special Report:… Read More →

Upcoming Events

April 2025

Wednesday April 23

8:00 am – 12:30 pm: Supporting Beneficial Birds on the Farm
Wednesday April 23
8:00 am – 12:30 pm
Supporting Beneficial Birds on the Farm
15270 Haucke Ln, Viola, WI 54664, USA

Wild Farm Alliance and Keewaydin Farms invite you to join them for a farm field day all about beneficial birds on Wednesday, April 23, from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., in Viola, Wis. Tickets are $10 and include lunch.

Discover the birds that call our farms home and explore how they can support pest control and biodiversity. Join innovative farmers, avian researchers, and other experts to learn practical strategies for attracting beneficial birds to your farm. Engage in hands-on activities, including a guided bird walk, nest box installation, and monitoring demonstrations. Walk away with valuable knowledge and skills to integrate bird-friendly practices into your farming operation.

There is limited space for this event. For details and to register, click here.

Thursday April 24

6:30 pm – 8:30 pm

Madison: Building a Shared Vision for Western MN

Thursday April 24

6:30 pm – 8:30 pm

Madison: Building a Shared Vision for Western MN

Madison Mercantile, 601 1st St, Madison, MN 56256, USA

The goal of this free Land Stewardship Project program is to change the way we think about issues in our communities, our state, and our nation. We will identify the problems that are affecting us, connect over our common values, and identify existing groups that share our goals. The idea is to find common ground with your neighbors and places where we can come together to move forward in areas of shared values.

Format:
1) What are the areas of concern in your personal life and your community? Examples:

Food insecurity/inflation
Labor shortages/workforce challenges
Housing prices/unavailability
Lack of local control

2) How can I personally address those concerns in my community or with the help of my neighbors?Examples:

Expanding local options for food and food processing
Expanding workforce internships for area youth
Assisting local community in finding grant programs for new rural housing
Volunteering for get out to vote campaigns for local elections

3) What existing community groups can help achieve these goals? What groups can we build up? Examples:

Local food co-ops or farmers’ market associations
Local school programs or after-school activity groups
Local economic development or civic leadership groups
Local election boards

For more information, contact LSP organizer James Kanne at jkanne@landstewardshipproject.org.

Saturday April 26

3:00 pm – 4:30 pm: MN Book Award Series: Sonja Trom Eayrs: Dodge County Inc.
Saturday April 26
3:00 pm – 4:30 pm
MN Book Award Series: Sonja Trom Eayrs: Dodge County Inc.
East Side Freedom Library, 1105 Greenbrier Street, Saint Paul, MN 55106
Join the East Side Freedom Library and the Land Stewardship Project in welcoming Minnesota Book Award finalist Sonja Trom Eayrs for her award-nominated book Dodge County Inc.: Big Ag and the Undoing of Rural America.

In 2014 Sonja Trom Eayrs’s parents filed the first of three lawsuits against Dodge County officials and their neighbors, one of the few avenues available to them to challenge installation of a corporate factory farm near their intergenerational family farm in Dodge County, Minnesota. For years they’d witnessed the now widely known devastation wrought by industrial hog operations—inhumane treatment of animals and people, pollution, the threat of cancer clusters, and more. They’d had enough. They also deeply understood an effect of Big Ag rarely discussed in mainstream media—the hollowing-out of their lifelong farming community and economy in service of the corporate bottom line.

Sonja Trom Eayrs is a farmer’s daughter, rural advocate, and attorney. She is involved in several rural advocacy organizations, including the Socially Responsible Agriculture Project, Farm Action, Land Stewardship Project, and Dodge County Concerned Citizens. Trom Eayrs also serves as the business manager for the Trom family farm in Dodge County, Minnesota. For more information about the author, visit sonjatromeayrs.com.

This event is free; for details and to register, click here.

Note: There will be a reception at 2 p.m. featuring the art exhibit You Betcha! Farmer-Labor Solidarity is Possible. Join us!

Join with Google Meet: https://meet.google.com/ydq-njqg-aks

Learn more about Meet at: https://support.google.com/a/users/answer/9282720

July 2025

Thursday July 24

5:30 pm – 9:00 pm

LSP Twin Cities Cookout & Potluck

Thursday July 24

5:30 pm – 9:00 pm

LSP Twin Cities Cookout & Potluck

Land Stewardship Project, 821 E 35th St Suite 200, Minneapolis, MN 55407, USA

Join Land Stewardship Project members and supporters for a fun and casual evening of delicious local food, live music, and dancing. Bring a dish to share for the Twin Cities’ best potluck, among other Cookout favorites:

A Pie Raffle in support of LSP’s work keeping the people and the land together.

An opportunity to hear from LSP members and staff about on-the-ground organizing and how you can get involved!

It’s never too early to RSVP! Follow this link to let us know you’re coming: https://bit.ly/TCCP25

November 2025

Friday November 7 – Saturday November 8

Emerging Farmers Conference

Friday November 7 – Saturday November 8

Emerging Farmers Conference

Brooklyn Center, MN, USA

Details on the 20th Annual Emerging Farmers Conference are available here.

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