The Land Stewardship Project and our members have worked for 43 years to push back against the expansion of a factory farming model that forces out farmers, harms the land and water, and puts our communities at risk. This work is built upon that experience, and the stories of our farmer and rural members who… Read More →
In the early 2000s, I wrote a series of Land Stewardship Letter articles about a generic environmental impact statement study that was done on Minnesota’s livestock industry. The final report had an interesting finding related to phosphorus, a key source of crop fertility: small livestock farms had a medium phosphorus shortage of 17 pounds per… Read More →
Growing Small Grains Market in Albert Lea Attracting Attention from Farmers (1/28/25) KAAL-TV reports on a Land Stewardship Project workshop where over 150 people gathered to talk about ways of bringing small grains back to Minnesota. Highlights: After being mostly replaced by corn and soybeans during the past several decades, small grains such as oats… Read More →
Note: This is the 10th installment in the 12-part “A Sense of Where You Are” series. There’s nothing like getting diminishing returns on your investment in time, labor, and resources to put things in context. “I just got sick and tired of spending money on fertilizer, planting in the dry powder, and watching the soil blow… Read More →
Soil conservationist Julie Reberg sees composting as a “very scientific art form” that can transform waste into biological bullion. More Information • LSP’s Soil Microbiology Web Page • NRCS Manure Composting Fact Sheet • Ear to the Ground 358: Low Input – High Returns • Ear to the Ground 352: Land of the Living • Ear to the… Read More →
Alex Udermann and his family at Meadowbrook Dairy were tired of working harder and harder for less and less. So they invested in building the kind of healthy soil that pays off economically, environmentally, and from a quality of life point of view. More Information • LSP’s Soil Health Web Page • Minnesota Agricultural Water… Read More →
On Monday, June 24, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) opened a public comment period for Minnesotans to respond to proposed changes to two permits that regulate the state’s largest animal feedlots. The aim of these changes is to protect Minnesota water by reducing nitrate contamination from manure produced by feedlots that are 1,000 animal… Read More →
LEWISTON, Minn. — The Land Stewardship Project (LSP) filed a legal brief May 22 with the Minnesota Court of Appeals contesting Daley Farm’s appeal of the state District Court’s decision to deny the operation’s attempt to circumvent Winona County’s rules related to the size of large livestock operations. Daley Farm is seeking a variance so that… Read More →
There is less than one month left in the 2024 Minnesota legislative session. This week, the House and Senate are finalizing and passing their separate omnibus policy and supplemental budget bills, which will then be sent to conference committees where differences between the proposals will be hammered out. This session, the Land Stewardship Project has… Read More →
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 →
