While spending time in western Minnesota’s Big Stone County recently, I came across a lot of talk about food deserts—those places where people don’t have good access to healthy, affordable food. But while interviewing LSP organizer Rebecca Terk for this week’s podcast, an interesting twist emerged: a type of food desert can exist even when plenty of vittles are being raised literally right in people’s backyards. It turns out a transportation system that’s great at putting Florida tomatoes in Minnesota grocery stores in the middle of February isn’t so good at getting green beans from Clinton to Ortonville. (more…)

When a business closes in a rural community, the following 24 months or so are key. Whether it be a farm, small town grocery or repair shop, if the real estate it occupied is still lacking a day-to-day human presence a year or two down the road, it sends a troubling message about the future not only of that particular enterprise, but the community as a whole. That’s why the mayor of the western Minnesota community of Clinton is so anxious to see her town’s diner full of clattering cups and lively chatter again. (more…)

Minnesota’s first ever Governor’s Pheasant Opener next week couldn’t come at a better time in terms of highlighting the need for supporting working lands conservation. After Gov. Dayton has a chance to enjoy some of western Minnesota’s finest bird hunting, he should take part in an Oct. 15 Land Stewardship Project tour at nearby Moonstone Farm, which is proving that productive agricultural land and prime wildlife habitat aren’t mutually exclusive. It wouldn’t hurt to give the Governor a little invitation via Facebook. (more…)

[Check out this previous post to hear Steve discuss these issues on AM950 Radio.]

Minnesotans expect our leaders to do more to clean up and restore our lakes, rivers and streams – Minnesota voters passed the Legacy Amendment in 2008 to do just that! But is that money being used effectively?

Our state has a long way to go in cleaning up our water, and preventing future pollution.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency reports that about 40% of Minnesota’s lakes and streams that they’ve tested are categorized as polluted. That means these waters don’t meet basic health standards for swimming or fishing – and definitely not drinking. What’s even more disturbing is that most of our lakes and rivers have yet to be tested! There is clearly more work that needs to be done to test these lakes to figure out where important clean-up work is most needed. (more…)

Steve Morse joined radio host Nancy Nelson Tuesday, Oct. 4, on AM950 to discuss Legacy Amendment funds for cleaning up our water, and how water pollution is tied to agriculture.

Listen to their conversation by clicking play below.

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There are numerous ways of communicating the value society places on having more family farmers on the land, not fewer. This morning, the USDA announced it was awarding $18 million in grants to groups that are helping beginning farmers nationwide. That sends an important message that the federal government, thanks to initiatives put in the 2008 Farm Bill, thinks there are opportunities in agriculture for small- and medium-sized farmers using innovative production and marketing methods. On the other hand, there’s the message beginning farmers like Alison and Jim Deutsch have received over the years: “Pretty much everybody we talked to was pretty negative,” said Jim. (more…)

A three-hour drive separates the rolling hills of Minnesota’s Douglas County from the front steps of the Bell Museum of Natural History. But a year after the controversy over Troubled Waters—the Bell’s Emmy award-winning film on farmland pollution in the Mississippi River basin—brought words like “dead zone,” hypoxia” and “nitrogen fertilizer” to the attention of the general public, what’s happening in places like west-central Minnesota provides an insight into what the future holds for the health of the entire watershed all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. (more…)

By Anna Cioffi
LSP and Hope Community in Minneapolis have come together to create a project called Growing Neighborhood Access to Healthy Food. Why has an organization known for its rural organizing teamed up with an urban community group? Because a truly sustainable food and farming system requires that everyone have access to healthy, affordable food. (more…)

What do you do when a resource becomes increasingly scarce? One option is to use it more efficiently. That’s a key point livestock producer Greg Judy is going to make Sept. 9-10 in Alexandria during what promises to be a fascinating set of workshops (there are still a few spots remaining). In this case, the resource that’s becoming harder to come by is pasture. Judy’s answer? Bring in the mob.

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During yesterday’s otherwise excellent field day at the USDA’s soil conservation lab in Morris, the “S” word reared its ugly head. “S” as in our best farmland needs to be “sacrificed” in the name of food and fuel production, leaving room for only an odd corner here and there to provide a smattering of natural habitat. Such an attitude undervalues not only the landscape that dominates this portion of the country, but the innovative people who steward it. (more…)