Land Stewardship Project

Dust-to-Dust: Don’t Blame the Drought

November 30, 2012
Brian DeVore
agriculture, Food and Sustainable Agriculture, Loon Commons blog, rural
Dirty Thirties, Dust Bowl, Ken Burns, Land Stewardship Project, monocropping, soil and water conservation districts, soil erosion, soil healthy, The Worst Hard Time, Timothy Egan

I recently phoned members of my geographically far-flung family to give them Thanksgiving greetings and was struck by a common element of our ensuing conversations. From Iowa and Nebraska to Kentucky and…
Why Restricting Voter Rights is Bad for the Land & its People

October 4, 2012
Brian DeVore
agriculture, Food and Sustainable Agriculture, Loon Commons blog
corporate control, factoiry farms, frac sand mining, Land Stewardship Project, local control, local democracy, Nov. 6 Election, Our Future, Our Vote, Our Vote Our Future, sustainable communities, voter fraud, Voter ID Amendment

By Mark Schultz Recently, the Land Stewardship Project joined “Our Vote, Our Future,” a coalition of over 70 organizations working to oppose the voter restriction amendment to the state constitution that is…
Interested in farming? Consider Morris Farm Beginnings

August 27, 2012
Brian DeVore
agriculture, Food and Sustainable Agriculture, Loon Commons blog
beginning farmers, CSA, Farm Beginnings, garlic, grazing, Kristianna Gehant, Land Stewardship Project, LSP's Farm Beginnings, Nick Siddens, Nolan and Vanessa Lenzen, organic dairy, sustainable farming

By the time he was 20, Nolan Lenzen had already completed a dairy management course at a local college and launched a farming career in partnership with his father and grandfather. They…
Senate Listens to Public & Makes Crop Insurance More Accountable to the Environment

June 22, 2012
Brian DeVore
agriculture, Food and Sustainable Agriculture, Loon Commons blog
conservation compliance, Conservation Reserve Program, Conservation Stewardship Program, crop insurance, Farm Bill, farm conservation, Land Stewardship Project, Senate, Senator Al Franken, Senator Amy Klobuchar, soil erosion, stewardship, sustainable agriculture, wetlands

The U.S. Senate passed its version of the 2012 Farm Bill this week. While it’s far from perfect, specific amendments related to conservation and accountability that were passed during the floor vote…
Battling Diabetes on the Street & in the Garden

June 15, 2012
Brian DeVore
agriculture, Food and Sustainable Agriculture, Loon Commons blog
Anna Cioffi, community gardens, food access, food deserts, fresh produce, Growing Neighborhood Access to Healthy Food, healthy eating, healthy food, Hope Community, Land Stewardship Project, low income, obesity epidemic, Rhys Williams, Type 2 Diabetes, vegetables

One can almost detect the longing in Denise Crews’ voice when she describes what foods she misses the most since she was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. “The hardest thing to give…
Rolling Our Land To Death

June 8, 2012
Brian DeVore
agriculture, Food and Sustainable Agriculture, Loon Commons blog
conservation, corn, crop insurance, Farm Bill, land rollers, Land Stewardship Project, row crops, Senate Farm Bill, soil erosion, soybeans, stewardship, tillage

I sat in a farmhouse one afternoon last month as a hot wind lifted rich topsoil from surrounding fields. On the drive in, I’d noticed a surprising amount of rill erosion on…
Loving the Land Enough to Let it Go

February 12, 2012
Brian DeVore
Food and Sustainable Agriculture
beginning farmers, Carmen Fernholz, Farm Beginnings, land legacy, Land Stewardship Project, Look Who's Knockin', passing on the farm, retiring farmers, Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota

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…
First on the Agenda Thursday: Weaken Local Control

January 25, 2012
Brian DeVore
Food and Sustainable Agriculture
factory farms, frac sand mining, grabage burners, interim ordinance, Land Stewardship Project, local control, local democracy, township government, township rights, Wal-Mart

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…
A Chance to Advance Urban Ag in Mpls. on Jan. 23

January 20, 2012
Brian DeVore
Food and Sustainable Agriculture
bacy yard gardens, Land Stewardship Project, LSP, market gardens, Minneapolis Urban Agriculture Policy Plan, urban ag zoning, urban agriculture, urban farms

By Anna Cioffi, Land Stewardship Project On Monday, Jan. 23, there will be a public hearing of the Minneapolis Planning Commission to discuss proposed draft changes to the zoning code as it…
Eating Our Own Farm Financial Cooking

January 7, 2012
Brian DeVore
Food and Sustainable Agriculture
banks, beginning farmers, Dean Harrington, diverse agriculture, Farm Beginnings, farm credit, Farm Service Agency, First National Bank of Plainview, grass-based livestock, Land Stewardship Project, lenders, organic agriculture, organic dairy, organic vegetables, Plainview Minnesota, rural banks, sustainable agriculture

One winter evening in 1999 I was sitting in on a Farm Beginnings class being held in the southeast Minnesota community of Plainview when a local banker stood up and made a…