By Bobby King, Land Stewardship Project Some lawmakers in St. Paul are turning a deaf ear to an important fact: local control is a key tool for Minnesota cities, townships and counties seeking to create a positive future for their communities. That’s why local officials are cranking up the volume a bit by signing letters,… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Food and Sustainable Agriculture
It’s Mostly Good News for Mpls. Urban Ag, But…
By Anna Cioffi, Land Stewardship Project Overall, the results of yesterday’s Minneapolis Zoning and Planning Committee hearing were good news for urban agriculture in the city. That’s especially true considering that going into the hearing there were concerns that severe restrictions would be imposed on the ability of urban farmers to carry out even basic… Read more »
Urban Ag Needs Your Support by March 22
Additional changes have been proposed to the current Minneapolis Urban Agriculture Zoning Text Amendments that won’t work for urban farmers. LSP opposes incorporating these changes into the current language, as they create more barriers for urban farmers at a time when we should be supporting them. The City Council needs to hear from supporters of… Read more »
Cashing in on Soil Quality
Talk of how agriculture can improve soil quality seems to be popping up more frequently these days. Perhaps the most exciting recent mention was in an issue of Successful Farming magazine, which has produced an impressive package of stories called The Good Earth. Most of what’s in this package won’t be news to anyone who’s… Read more »
Anti-Local Control Bill Goes to House Floor Vote This Afternoon—Call Reps. Now
Surprise and intimidation can be powerful tools when backers of major development seek to build a large facility in a small, rural township. For a town board used to dealing with mundane issues like gravel road maintenance and ditch mowing, to be suddenly confronted with a proposal for a large-scale industrialized livestock operation, garbage burner… Read more »
Local Control & the Capitol’s Dangerous Double Standard
Nice irony: when a key committee passed House File 389 last Wednesday, it was by a 9 to 5 vote, which is less than the two-thirds majority the bill imposes on local governments that want to enact a temporary freeze on major development—the kind of development that can change a community forever. Apparently, some legislators… Read more »
It’s CSA Time
Okay, maybe winter hasn’t quite given up the ghost yet, but spring really will be upon us before we know it. A sure sign of that is CSA farms are firing up their greenhouses. Now that the farmers are preparing for the upcoming growing season, it’s the eaters’ turn: LSP’s 2012 directory of CSA farms… Read more »
Tell Mpls. City Council by March 1 to Support Market Gardens
By Anna Cioffi, Land Stewardship Project The Minneapolis City Council will be voting on the complete Urban Ag Text Amendments on March 1 during the Zoning and Planning Committee meeting. As we’ve reported here before, these text amendments are an important step toward making urban farming a key part of the city’s fabric. However, we… Read more »
Loving the Land Enough to Let it Go
While recording a recent LSP podcast interview with southwest Minnesota farmer Carmen Fernholz, I was reminded of how important it is that farmers identify closely with the land they’re producing a livelihood from. As Fernholz put it: “If you’re a good farmer you can’t help but become attached to the land. And when you become… Read more »
First on the Agenda Thursday: Weaken Local Control
Well, that didn’t take long. Tomorrow, at the very first meeting of the Minnesota House Government Operations and Elections Committee, lawmakers will take up House File 389, which weakens township, county and city local control. This legislation needs to be stopped before it even gets out of the starting gate. For details on how to… Read more »