Ear to the Ground 288: More with Less
Tom Cotter sees his return on investment tied directly to how freely he lets soil biology do its job — and that starts with a diverse community above and below ground. More Information • LSP’s Soil...
View ArticleEar to the Ground 289: Reflections on a Revolution
Two decades after crop failures almost ended his farming career, soil health pioneer Gabe Brown reflects on how far the regenerative ag movement has come…and where it’s going. More Information • LSP’s...
View ArticleEar to the Ground No. 290: Silt Suppression
How the Bergler family stopped “chasing their tails,” started fixing their farm’s damaged soils, and welcomed curious queries. More Information • LSP’s Soil Health web page • Land Stewardship Letter: A...
View ArticleEar to the Ground No. 291: Shovel Doesn’t Lie
What Allen Williams unearthed on the farm of Rachelle and Jordan Meyer. More Information • LSP’s Soil Health web page • Land Stewardship Letter: A Season of Knowledge Transfer • Allen Williams Ear to...
View ArticleEar to the Ground 292: Working the Microbes
David Johnson and Hui-Chun Su Johnson’s approach to composting may help farming reach the ultimate regenerative ag pinnacle: self-sufficient soil. More Information • LSP’s Microbiology web page •...
View ArticleEar to the Ground 295: Patchwork Quilt Stewardship
John Ledermann’s rental relationships are built on healthy soil. More Information • LSP’s Conservation Leases Toolkit • Land Stewardship Letter article on John Ledermann • LSP’s Soil Health web page •...
View ArticleEar to the Ground 296: Stability is Sexy
Rick Clark’s no-till organic system is all about treating cover crops like cash crops — because they are. More Information • Rick Clark’s Farm Green website • LSP’s Soil Health web page • LSP Ear Dirt...
View ArticleJulias Neighborly CSA
My CSA is in its second year of providing hyper-local produce to South Minneapolis. This small CSA has only 10 shares and the food is grown in my neighbor’s yard, five blocks from the co-op pick-up...
View ArticleEar to the Ground 303: Silvo Savvy
Farmers like Tom Hunter are setting out to prove that trees and livestock can mix in a way that creates an ecological -economic equilibrium. More Information • Sustainable Farming Association...
View ArticleEar to the Ground 304: Policy for the People
Perhaps no single piece of legislation has a more profound impact on what our landscape and rural communities look like. That’s why LSP’s members are working hard to influence the 2023 Farm Bill (1st...
View ArticleEar to the Ground 305: Farm Bill as a Public Good
LSP farmer-members talk about how the 2023 Farm Bill could benefit the land, people, and rural communities (2nd of 2 parts). More Information • Ear to the Ground 304: Policy for the People (1st...
View ArticleTell Your MN House Member Today to Lower Prescription Drug Costs & Reject...
During this legislative session, Minnesota lawmakers are considering the passage of a bill to create a PRESCRIPTION DRUG AFFORDABILITY BOARD (PDAB) and pharmaceutical corporations are doing everything...
View ArticleEar to the Ground 309: Stewards of the Land
Two Puerto Rican filmmakers talk about Stewards of the Land/Serán las dueñas de la tierra, which documents the stories of three beginning farmers as they build relationships and find creative ways to...
View ArticleEar to the Ground 310: Healthy Farmers, Healthy Land
Paula Williams talks about why healthcare reform matters to LSP and its allies, and, after 15 years of hard work and organizing, what advances were made on the issue during a recent session of the...
View ArticleEar to the Ground 312: Testing in Nature’s Image
Dr. Liz Haney says a truly regenerative farming system starts with a regenerative way of measuring soil health. More Information • LSP’s Soil Health Web Page • LSP’s 2023 Field Day Special Report: “A...
View ArticleProtect & Expand Funding for Working Lands Conservation Programs in the 2023...
Farmers are uniquely positioned to both mitigate and build resiliency when it comes to climate change. Farmers are on the front lines of managing extreme weather events, emerging pests and disease,...
View ArticleEar to the Ground 315: Healthcare’s Farm Failure
Dana Seifert sees the healthcare system as being in the midst of a major drought, and it’s bleeding dry farmers and the rural communities that rely on them. More Information • LSP’s Healthcare Web Page...
View ArticleEar to the Ground 316: Passing on Purity
Agronomist David Kleinschmidt says dealing with extreme weather on the farm requires compromise, even when it means taking a temporary step back on soil health. More Information • LSP’s Soil Health Web...
View ArticleEar to the Ground 317: Policy on the Prairie
Adam Griebie’s agricultural stewardship ethic has been bolstered by federal farm policy, but there’s room for improvement. More Information • LSP’s 2023 Farm Bill Platform • LSP’s Federal Policy Web...
View ArticleStop Big Ag From Raiding Working Lands Conservation Funding
Big Ag and its friends in Congress hope to send more money into the pockets of a few mega-sized commodity farms through one of the most popular commodity programs in the Farm Bill — crop insurance....
View ArticleEar to the Ground 320: Season Stretcher
An innovative program for promoting soil health and extending the grazing season came at just the right time for farmer Alan Bedtka. More Information • Ear to the Ground No. 326: Rooting Out Nitrates •...
View ArticleEar to the Ground 321: Buried Knowledge
A town lost to erosion offers a critical lesson as Sandy and Lonny Dietz strive to develop a viable no-till organic vegetable production system. More Information • Whitewater Gardens Farm • Sustainable...
View ArticleEar to the Ground 322: Lunchroom Stewardship
Aimee Haag is proving that farm-to-school arrangements can benefit kids, communities, and farmers…one tomato at a time. More Information • MDA Farm-to-School & Early Care Grants • Minnesota...
View ArticleEar to the Ground 323: Rainy Day Fund
With their dairy farm at the epicenter of the worst drought in over a century, the Vergin family adapts through diversification, flexibility, and making deposits in the soil bank. More Information •...
View ArticleEar to the Ground 324: Good Grass Makes Good Neighbors
The landowners Jeremy and Jessica Holst rent from like to see a green landscape — no wonder the dairy farmers’ rotational grazing system is considered a neighborhood asset. More Information • LSP’s...
View ArticleEar 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...
View ArticleEar to the Ground 326: Rooting Out Nitrates
The Olmsted County Groundwater Protection and Soil Health Program could serve as a holistic model for supporting practices that are good for the farmer, the land, and water quality. More Information •...
View ArticleLSP Applauds Court’s Support of Winona County Decision on Factory Farm
LEWISTON, Minn. — Land Stewardship Project (LSP) members applauded today’s decision by the Minnesota District Court to deny Daley Farm’s latest attempt to circumvent Winona County’s rules related to...
View ArticleEar to the Ground No. 327: Side-by-Side Soil
A 30-farm study is comparing the impacts regenerative vs. conventional practices have on soil’s resiliency. Extreme drought has churned up some exciting results. More Information • Sand County...
View ArticleEar to the Ground 297: Web of Willing Workers
Scientist Elaine Ingham believes minding the microbes makes farmers the masters of their own destiny. More Information • Microbiologist Elaine Ingham’s Soil Food Web page • LSP’s Soil Microbiology web...
View ArticleEar to the Ground 299: Road to Resilience
Laura Lengnick believes that if farms are to survive (and thrive) in the age of climate change, we need to remember it’s not just about soil and water — it’s also about people. More Information •...
View ArticleEar to the Ground 308: Is Your Farm a Business?
Dave Pratt says most farms and ranches are just a collection of expensive assets and low-paying jobs. But such a dysfunctional business model is not inevitable. More Information • Ranch Management...
View ArticleEar to the Ground 313: Walking & Talking
A pasture walk on the Nikki and Cody Meyer farm shows the value of farmer-to-farmer learning. More Information • LSP’s Soil Health & Grazing Web Page • LSP’s 2023 Field Day Special Report: “A...
View ArticleEar to the Ground 318: Great Expectations
Farmer Mike Seifert is realizing that building a solid soil house is not enough — he also has to stock its pantry. More Information • LSP’s Soil Microbiology Web Page • Ear to the Ground 297: Web of...
View ArticleLSP’s 2024 Minnesota Legislative Platform
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,...
View ArticleEar to the Ground 301: Pipe Dreams
When a tiling company suggested burying more pipe to deal with drainage issues, Tom Finnegan opted instead to go to the root of the problem. More Information • LSP’s Cover Crops page • LSP’s Grazing...
View ArticleEar to the Ground 314: Going for the Goat
Jordan and Rachelle Meyer are using goats to add value to marginal land…one thistle at a time. More Information • LSP’s Soil Health & Grazing Web Page • LSP’s 2023 Field Day Special Report: “A...
View Article2023 Minnesota Legislative Session Wrap-Up
During the recently concluded session of the Minnesota Legislature, Land Stewardship Project members and partners worked to win record investments in sustainable and regenerative agriculture, small and...
View ArticleLine 3 Environmental Damage & State Regulatory Failure
Note: The Land Stewardship Project’s current long-range plan outlines why we cannot have a sustainable society while we rely on a system focused on extractive fossil fuels. In the plan, LSP promises to...
View ArticleCall on Senator Amy Klobuchar to Co-Sponsor Critical Land Access Legislation
Land access is the top challenge emerging and beginning farmers face. At the same time, ownership of millions of acres of agricultural land is changing hands as farmers and ranchers across the country...
View ArticleEar to the Ground 329: Weather Whiplash
Climate change may impact a vegetable producer and a livestock farmer in different ways, but the result is the same: uncertainty, stress…and a deeper desire to connect with community. More Information...
View ArticleEar to the Ground 330: String Theory
Soil, cows, ecology, economics: to milk producer Derek Schmitz, they are all linked, and that feeds his optimism even as tough times cast a shadow over dairy farming. More Information • LSP’s Grazing...
View ArticleEar to the Ground 331: Reality Check
Direct-marketing expert and farmer Ryan Pesch sees a lot of potential in the community/local food movement, but farmers hoping to enter that realm need to ask some key questions first. More Information...
View ArticleEar to the Ground 332: Real Food, Real Impact
Beverly Dougherty’s Real Food Hub is out to prove that connecting local farmers and local eaters makes sense nutritionally and financially — and is just plain fun. More Information • Read Food Hub •...
View ArticleEar 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...
View ArticleEar to the Ground 335: Bumping Elbows
From raising produce and working in a restaurant to teaching food safety and managing a farmers’ market, Sara George has experienced “farm-to-fork” from just about every angle possible. This has given...
View ArticleEar to the Ground 337: ROI & Riding a Bike
Josh Nelson’s approach to farming means looking beyond the next corn crop and building the kind of soil that generates long-term return on investment. More Information • LSP’s Bridge to Soil Health...
View ArticleEar to the Ground 338: Microbial IRA
For Jerome Fulsaas, cover cropping and no-till are creating an individual retirement account based on a living soil bank, not dead dirt. More Information • LSP’s Bridge to Soil Health Web Page • LSP’s...
View ArticleEar to the Ground 336: Biology Booster
Gary Zimmer says before a farm can be sustainable, it has to be regenerated — and that starts with the soil. More Information • LSP’s Bridge to Soil Health Web Page • LSP’s Microbiology & Soil...
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