Do you own farmland and want to make sure it is taken care of using good stewardship practices? A series of “Managing for Stewardship” workshops will be held in Minnesota during January and February. These workshops are for farmland owners, retired farm men and women, those inheriting a farmland investment and farmers who would like to invest in soil building on rented land. The workshops will be offered in three separate locations in Minnesota: Willmar, Roseville and Albert Lea. Participants are encouraged to bring their own landowner/renter, or to attend independently. Suggested donation is $20, which includes a noon meal and toolkit. To reserve a spot and for more information, contact Robin Moore at 320-269-2105 or rmoore@landstewardshipproject.org. Registration is also available at https://landstewardshipproject.org/managingforstewardship2019.

The first in the series of workshops, “Intro to Land Management and Stewardship Communication” will be held: Jan. 10, at Vinje Church, 1101 Willmar Ave. SW, Willmar; Jan. 16, at Roseville Lutheran Church, 1215 W. Roselawn Ave., Roseville; and Jan. 17, at Wedgewood Cove, 2200 W. 9th St., Albert Lea. We will talk about soil health, review resources for landowners and farmers, have a panel of farmers and landowners to answer your questions and learn how to start some of the difficult conversations about increasing stewardship on rental land. Attendees will receive a toolkit of resources.

The keynote speaker at the Roseville and Albert Lea workshops will be Kristin Brennan, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service assistant state soil scientist for Minnesota. LSP’s Robin Moore will deliver the soil health presentation at the Willmar workshop. The speakers will address what soil health means, why landowners should care about it, and what they can do to improve their soil health.

The second series of workshops, “Digging Deeper into Conservation,” will have a morning session for women landowners only (lunch is included for morning and afternoon participants). All are welcome in the afternoon, which will feature panel discussions and a Q and A with legal, financial and agency experts, as well as farmers and landowners. These sessions will be held: Feb. 7, at Vinje Church, Willmar; Feb. 13, at Roseville Lutheran Church in Roseville; and Feb. 14, at Wedgewood Cove, Albert Lea.

These workshops are being presented by the Land Stewardship Project, in collaboration with Soil and Water Conservation Districts, the League of Women Voters and the Izaak Walton League.

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