racial justice

Soil Health & Racial Justice — What?!

Farmers Seeking to Create a Just, De-centralized, Diverse Food & Farming System Talk Economic & Racial Justice

By Barbara Sogn-Frank

April 5, 2022

The Questions… What does soil health have to do with racial justice? Why does the Land Stewardship Project write articles and posts about racial justice for mostly homogenous, white audiences in rural, farming communities? From time to time, LSP soil health organizers are asked these questions by farmers at our field days and workshops. Some… Read More →

Category: Blog

Ear to the Ground No. 249: It’s Not Lost, it Just Went to Sleep

Ella Robertson and Eric Wana of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate in northeastern South Dakota talk about reawakening their people’s connections to farming, the land, and water. Ella Robertson and Eric Wana were interviewed as part of the We Are Water initiative, which documented the stories of several farmers in the upper reaches of the Minnesota… Read More →

Upcoming Events

December 2025

Wednesday December 10

9:00 am – 11:30 am

Organic Fruit Growers Climate Resilience Workshop

Wednesday December 10

9:00 am – 11:30 am

Organic Fruit Growers Climate Resilience Workshop

Zoom online

In December and January, the Organic Fruit Growers Association is offering a series of climate resilience workshops. Workshop goals are to learn about the changing climate in our region and the expected impacts on fruit farmers and to select climate resilience practices which are suited to your farm’s goals and values. The outcome of the workshops will be a written climate resilience plan with actionable steps to make your farm more resilient to changing climate.

Workshops will be led by University of Minnesota extension educators Katie Black and Madeline Wimmer and include times for farmer-to-farmer discussion. This series includes the following four meetings. Expect to spend an additional 4-10 hours outside the meetings developing your farm’s climate resilience plan:

Wednesday Dec. 3, 9 a.m.-11:30 a.m. (online via Zoom)
Wednesday, Dec. 10, 9 a.m.-11:30 a.m. (online via Zoom)
Monday, Dec. 22, discussion (online via Zoom — optional but encouraged)
Wednesday, Jan. 7, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. (in-person workshop in La Crosse, Wis. Lunch provided, and you can be reimbursed for mileage traveling to and from the meeting.)

For details and to register, click here.

6:30 pm – 8:00 pm

How to Make Your Farm's Website Convert Visitors to Customers

Wednesday December 10

6:30 pm – 8:00 pm

How to Make Your Farm's Website Convert Visitors to Customers

Zoom Online

Join Sarah Carroll of Greener Pastures and Michelle M Sharp of Meet the Minnesota Makers in this 90-minute virtual workshop to learn about what your business website needs to tell its story, engage customers, and turn visits into real sales.

This workshop lays out the essential components of a user-friendly website for direct-to-consumer farms or food producers. No prior website skills are required.

Topics covered:

• How to make your products searchable by customers.

• What makes a compelling About Me page.

• The right balance of images to text.

• How to engage customers right from your home page.

• Incorporating FAQs.

Who this training is for:

This workshop is ideal for the farm or ag business that has launched an initial website that’s ready to upgrade or for the farm that has not yet created its own website. This workshop is both for farmers/food producers and ag ecosystem professionals that support farmers/food producers in their marketing and website efforts.

For details and to register, click here.

Thursday December 18

All Day

MDA Urban Farm Conservation Mini-grant Deadline

Thursday December 18

MDA Urban Farm Conservation Mini-grant Deadline

MDA

A grant opportunity for urban farmers in Minnesota to receive up to $5,000 to make conservation-focused improvements is now open for applications.

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) is once again offering an Urban Farm Conservation Mini-grant with approximately $100,000 available, thanks to funding from the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. This year the program has expanded eligibility.

Who is eligible:

Entities commercially farming in Minnesota, meaning they sell or donate at least $1,000 of what they produce.
Farm applicants must be located in or selling into a city with a population over 5,000 people, or be located within the boundaries of federally recognized tribal land in Minnesota and serve tribal community members.

The grant offers up to $5,000 per approved recipient which can be used to cover a variety of tools, supplies, services, and other expenses related to improving their urban farm.

Eligible projects include irrigation infrastructure improvements, tools and amendments for improving soil health, composting infrastructure, specialty crop rotation equipment and many other farm improvements which generate conservation outcomes.

Up to 100% of the total project costs may be covered by the grant, and a cash match is not required. Grantees will need to pay for eligible expenses up front and then request reimbursement, using proof of purchase and proof of payment.

An informational session will take place online at 1 p.m. on November 20 and registration is required. Language interpretation services may be requested for the information session by contacting Emily Toner at emily.toner@state.mn.us.

This is a competitive grant program and applications must be submitted by December 18.

Visit the Urban Farm Conservation Grant web page for more information on its application. The Request for Proposals is available for download in English, Spanish, Hmong and Somali.

11:00 am – 2:00 pm

Managing Cover Crops Effectively

Thursday December 18

11:00 am – 2:00 pm

Managing Cover Crops Effectively

830 Whitewater Ave, St Charles, MN 55972, USA

Program Includes:

Introduction to cover crop management
Funding and cost-share opportunities
Farmer panel and Q & A with panelists Mike Unruh, Ken Bergler, and Myron Sylling

Presentations from: Bailey Tangen (UMN) and Brad Jordahl Redlin (MDA).

Holiday conservation mixer following program.

This event is free but registration is required. For more information and to register, click here or call 262-325-6637. Details are also available on this flyer.

1:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Workshop: Sharing No-till Knowledge & Microbial Insights

Thursday December 18

1:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Workshop: Sharing No-till Knowledge & Microbial Insights

Olmsted County Public Works Service Center, 1188 50 St SE, Rochester, MN 55904, USA

Whitewater Gardens, The Olmsted SWCD, and The University of Minnesota Extension Olmsted County is offering a workshop called The Living Soil Roundtable: Sharing No-Till Knowledge and Microbial Insights. This workshop will offer practical information on how to read soil tests (both the Haney and the Soil Food Web), share findings from a recent NRCS SARE research project Optimizing No-Till Methods for a Direct-to-Market Organic Vegetable Farm on various mulching methods (deep composting, cut and carry, and living mulch), and provide plenty of time for questions and answers to discuss incorporating mulching in reduced till systems as a weed management practice and how to incorporate practices to increase soil microbiology.

Participants are encouraged to bring soil or compost samples for viewing under a microscope and for analysis to detect microbial life. Class cost is free and will be held at Olmsted County Public Works Service Center (1188 50 St SE, Rochester, MN 55904) on December 18th from 1- 4 PM.

Register at z.umn.edu/soilroundtable. Contact Shona Langseth at
shona.langseth@olmstedcounty.gov or 507-328-6905 with any questions.

View Full Calendar