What do you like about Minnesota’s 10,000 lakes and 70,000 miles of streams? Swimming? Fishing?

You should know about Beneficial Use Impairments, or BUI’s.

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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 statement that about knocked me out of my chair. “We need to eat our own cooking,” said the banker, Dean Harrington. The statement wasn’t about food, at least not directly. It was about how we look to ourselves instead of Wall Street when investing in the future of our rural communities. A few weeks ago, I had a chance to chat with Harrington at another  LSP meeting. As the podcast that came out of that conversation demonstrates, he’s still banging the same “home cooking” drum. Radical economic theory? Actually, it’s as no-nonsense as a banker’s gray three-piece suit. Read the rest of this entry »

Ely, Minnesota has been an environmental battlefield for decades. Ely was founded as an iron mining town, and a century later, conflicts today focus on mining.

The conflict came to a head last month at a meeting of the St. Louis County board of commissioners in Ely. Commissioners were hearing testimony about a proposed resolution in support of nonferrous mining in the County. The commissioner chairing the meeting asked the people testifying to state whether they wanted clean water or jobs.

Clean water OR jobs? Read the rest of this entry »

I talked to a Todd County farmer yesterday who uses 100 percent no-till  and other conservation measures to raise his crops. Conserving soil is important to him, and so he’s quite upset at how mobile humus has been on neighboring farms this fall/early winter. “You know that little skiff of snow we got the other day? Well, eroded soil was already mixing with it and blowing around,” the farmer told me. A Minnesota landscape full of Christmas snirt is a rude reminder that we need to stop arguing over if soil erosion is a problem. It is, and the time for action is upon us. Read the rest of this entry »

If you are a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farmer who delivers to the Twin Cities, outstate Minnesota or western Wisconsin, you have until Tuesday, Jan. 17, to get listed in LSP’s 2012 CSA Directory. For details on getting listed, click here.

On my walk to work, I cross Duluth’s iconic Aerial Lift Bridge. During the shipping season, my commute can be seriously disrupted by traffic…shipping traffic that is. The span of the bridge is nearly as long as a city block, and when a boat comes off of Lake Superior, the entire span raises up about 200 feet to get out of the way. Out of any given five days of work, there’s at least one day when I have to wait five, ten, even fifteen minutes to continue to work.

On the flip side, I get to walk down to the edge of the ship canal and experience the boats up close. They are stunning to watch and hear.

Just as these ships are a mixed blessing for my walk to work, they are a mixed blessing for the harbor ecosystem.

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Many good arguments can be made for supporting a type of agriculture less reliant on energy, technology and Wall Street, and more on soil, communities and people: it’s better for the environment, produces good food and keeps more Main Street businesses open, to name a few. But after reading Jim Van Der Pol’s just-published collection of essays, Conversations with the Land, another benefit of sustainable farming occurred to me: it allows for the kind of observation, contemplation and human relationship building that makes for good reading. Read the rest of this entry »

At a time when we’re all scanning the dark horizon of recession land for any economic spark, local food systems look to be a flare-up that’s got some staying power. The past several weeks have been full of signs that both in  Minnesota and nationally producing and consuming food in our own collective backyard isn’t just good for our palates — it’s good for the bottom line. But there are also indications that if local foods is to graduate from fringe status, it’s going to take a team effort. Read the rest of this entry »

By Anna Cioffi
If implemented correctly, the proposed city zoning code text amendments recommended by the Urban Agriculture Policy Plan for Minneapolis could play a key role in supporting urban farms, community gardens, farmers’ markets, farm stands and other elements of a vibrant urban agriculture economy. But to create a good final plan, we need input from growers and eaters, and the week of Nov. 28 provides a key opportunity to provide this input. Read the rest of this entry »

We knew Minnesotans would pitch in for Give to the Max Day, but wow! We are amazed by your willingness to join our efforts in protecting Minnesota’s Great Outdoors.

We always say our coalition works for our core Minnesota values — clean water, clean energy, and a healthy environment for our children and grandchildren — that transcend our differences. We know that despite what some state leaders claim, Minnesotans want our environment to be protected. Your support is even further evidence of this. Read the rest of this entry »