It’s as predictable as the spring thaw. The Minnesota Legislature is yet again trying to weaken environmental review of large developments such as factory farms. This time around, the excuse for making the ideas in  Senate File 2761 and House File 3079 into law is “greater efficiency.” Watch out. (more…)

Spring flood predictions are in the air, and you can bet that within the next several weeks a whole lot of that wayward water will be taking Grade A Midwestern topsoil along for the ride. (more…)

At the state meeting of the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota last Saturday, farmer Greg Reynolds opened his presentation on selling food to the Hopkins School District with a simple assessment: “I think it’s the next big thing.” Listen to Reynolds’ presentation on LSP’s podcast (episode 76) and it will become clear why the farmer is so upbeat about this new marketing relationship. (more…)

Longer days, shrinking snow drifts, missing motorists emerging from potholes—signs that spring is indeed nigh. Another hint that the growing season will actually make an appearance this year is that the 2010 Twin Cities CSA Directory is now available. Click here for the online version; call 612-722-6377 for the paper edition. Fifty-four farms are listed, 11 more than last year. That’s 54 ways to get the kind of fresh food we need to prepare our bodies for another Midwestern winter.

This week’s Star Tribune article about how the USDA’s school lunch program is no bargain here in Minnesota despite its reliance on highly-subsidized commodities reminded me of a conversation I had some time back with Robin Gaines, who is in charge of providing food for people on the other end of the age spectrum: retirement home residents. (more…)

What has the world come to when one of our leading food and farming writers is moved to pen a book with the subtitle, “An eater’s manual”? That was my first thought when I heard about Michael Pollan’s latest work, Food Rules. Now we need a list of rules on how to eat? What’s next: A Human’s Guide to Breathing In and Out? (more…)

Now that the MPCA has finally gotten around to taking steps to shut down that horrific health hazard that its owner, Excel, chooses to call a dairy farm, neighbors are left to wonder: what about the millions of gallons of manure left behind? (more…)

The end of January may not be the best time to whine about the unusually cool summers we’ve been experiencing in these parts (“Seventy degrees in August? I’m freezing!”). But at the annual meeting of the American Meteorological Society earlier this week, two fascinating studies linked cooler, wetter summers to our massive conversion of Midwestern real estate to row crops like corn. (more…)

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture released its long-awaited multi-agency review of the herbicide atrazine just after lunch today. No headline-making news here: “While the review finds that atrazine regulations protect human health and the environment in Minnesota, it also identifies several opportunities to further minimize atrazine impacts,” states the MDA’s press release. Despite the controversial nature of atrazine, one could predict such a milquetoast conclusion, considering the MDA’s attempts to not offend the agrichemical community in the past. What is striking about this review is the timing of its coming out party. (more…)

“Farmers like me are being put on the front line when it comes to the health risks of a chemical like atrazine,” says southwest Minnesota farmer Paul Sobocinski in a new report released Tuesday by LSP and Pesticide Action Network North America. (more…)