Ear to the Ground Podcast

During a tallgrass prairie "BioBlitz," farmers, a wildlife expert, and an LSP organizer discuss how livestock can benefit natural habitat and the community at large. For more on the BioBlitz events that are held periodically in western Minnesota, click here. Source

When a CAFO threatened a rural neighborhood, residents looked to a beginning farmer for a different vision of the future. Source

This is the first in a three-part series titled "Farming on Stolen Land." These three episodes were developed by LSP staff member Elizabeth Makarewicz as a guide to exploring issues of native justice and equity in Minnesota's food system. This first episode seeks to answer the question, "What does it mean to be a non-indigenous person living on native land?" Elizabeth's interviewee, Nora Murphy, a...

This is the second in a three-part series titled, "Farming on Stolen Land." These three episodes were developed by LSP staff member Elizabeth Makarewicz as a guide to exploring issues of native land justice and equity in Minnesota's food system. This episode offers a peek into the life of Dakota tribal member and activist, Carly Badheart Bull. Carly is a scholar of the Dakota language and, along w...

This is the third and final episode in a series titled, "Farming on Stolen Land." These three episodes were developed by LSP staff member Elizabeth Makarewicz as a guide to exploring issues of native land justice and equity in Minnesota's food system. In this episode, writer and scholar Waziyatawin shares with Elizabeth her vision of land justice for the Dakota people. Source

LSP co-founder Ron Kroese talks about the National Sustainable Agriculture Oral History Archive, which features interviews he did with pioneers in the movement to develop policy that supports regenerative farm and food systems. Source

Renter Mark Erickson shows landowners the benefits of converting cropland to pasture. Source

Farmer Bob Mierau describes how his drive to do "organic no-till" depends on boosting and supporting his soil's bug life. Source

Farmers Kent Solberg and Jim Wulf talk about the economic and ecological advantages of integrating crops and livestock. Source

LSP's Terry VanDerPol talks about recent LSP research into the problems faced by the local food movement. Source

Farmer Darrel Mosel talks about what 40 years of concentration in agriculture has done to his community, what gives him hope, and the role immigrants can play in revitalizing rural Minnesota. (6th in a series on Our Minnesota Future) Source

Sylvia Luetmer talks about why helping beginning farmers get access to land isn't enough, and how society needs to come to grips with the kind of food system it wants. (5th in a series on Our Minnesota Future) Source

Veteran CSA farmer John Fisher-Merritt describes how top-notch beginning farmer training, healthy soil, good food and sustainable communities are linked. (4th in a series on Our Minnesota Future) Source

Jenna Sandoe talks about the opportunities rural communities offer young people like her. (3rd in a series on Our Minnesota Future) Source

Farmer Laura Frerichs talks about the connection between healthcare, beginning farmers and thriving economies. (2nd in a series on Our Minnesota Future) Source

LSP executive director Mark Schultz describes why it's critical that LSP join forces with other "people's organizations" in our fight for change. (1st in a series on Our Minnesota Future) Source

Think the only path to profitability is through maximum productivity? Top dairy graziers are proving otherwise. Source

LSP members talk to candidates for Minnesota governor about what should be prioritized when it comes to farmers, the land and rural communities. Source

An LSP panel of professionals provides farmers advice on dealing with financial stress. Source

How outdoor clothing company Askov Finlayson is connecting soil smart farming with its desire to turn back the carbon clock. Source

Ray Archuleta makes a passionate pitch for treating soil like a living, breathing part of the ecosystem. Source

How a visiting student's critique set a farm on a path toward profitably integrating crops, pasture and livestock. Source

A southeastern Minnesota farmer's drive to plant cover crops takes him out onto the snow and into new soil health territory. Source

Iowa farmer Loran Steinlage describes the benefits of converting a monocropped desert to a "jungle mix" of continuous living cover. Source

Mark Schultz talks about how LSP's members hatched one of the most innovative farm conservation programs around...and why we need to fight for it. Source