pork checkoff

Land Line: Soil Health, Hunger, Govt. Accountability, Ag Recession, Slaughterhouse Speeds, Checkoffs

By Brian DeVore

April 1, 2025

Improving Soil Health Not Just Feel-Good Endeavor (4/1/25) Indiana Prairie Farmer describes how Rodney Rulon’s 30-year soil health journey utilizing no-till and cover cropping is paying dividends not just environmentally, but economically as well. Highlights: The National Association of Conservation Districts and the Soil Health Institute performed a budget analysis on 29 farms across the… Read More →

Category: Blog

Ear to the Ground 333: 2 Kinds of Power

When LSP farmer-members like Paul Sobocinski took on Big Pork, it showed the long-term impact grassroots organizing can have. More Information • Making Change from the Ground Up: 40 Stories for 40 Years of Land Stewardship Project • LSP’s Policy Campaigns Web Page • January/February/March 2001 Land Stewardship Letter: Pork Checkoff Voted Down by Farmers • Ear… Read More →

Upcoming Events

April 2025

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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