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Land Stewardship Project

Contact
Mark Schultz
2919 E. 42nd St.
Minneapolis, MN 55406
marks@landstewardshipproject.org
(612) 722-6377

On the Web: www.landstewardshipproject.org

Activity: Land Stewardship Project programs

Geographic location: LSP engages nationally in federal policy, research, and beginning farmer work. In terms of state and local policy and community-based food systems, Minnesota is our area of focus.

Brief activity description: The Land Stewardship Project has four programs aimed at improving water quality. Our Policy Program prioritizes work on federal policy and state policy, using organizing, education, and advocacy to push for expansion, improvement, and proper implementation of conservation policies and reform of federal commodity subsidies. LSP's Multiple Benefits of Agriculture Initiative conducts research and policy development relating to landscape diversification. Our Farm Beginnings program and Community-Based Food Systems program work closely with beginning and existing farmers and communities to support the growth of environmentally sustainable farming systems in the basin.

Primary goals or focus:

• Nutrient reduction
• Sediment reduction
• Agricultural landscape change
• Policy development
• Education/information sharing
• Organizing/networking/coordinating
• Monitoring
• Other (please specify):
• building an ethic of land stewardship

Projected outcomes/impacts, if known: Increase number of farmers. Increase number of farms using sustainable practices. Increase the amount of food consumed by people in the Upper Midwest that is raised here. Shift agricultural land use from intensive corn and beans production to a more diversified agricultural land use that protects water quality and conserves soil. Accomplish significant farm policy reform in the 2007 Farm Bill, especially: improve and expand the Conservation Security Program; enact the New Farm Initiative (policy and infrastructure to support beginning farmers and other sustainable farmers growing for local communities and regional markets); and reform federal commodity policy so farmers get a fair price for their crops, taxpayers pay less for the program, and environmental impacts are lessened.

Activity type:

• Research
• Policy
• Education
• Implementation
• Extension

Scale of activity:

• On-farm program
• Community-level
• Watershed
• County
• State
• Sub-basin
• Basin
• Regional
• National

Lead organization(s)/organizer(s): Land Stewardship Project Policy and Organizing Program -- Mark Schultz; Farm Beginnings -- Kate Twohig and Karen Stettler; Multiple Benefits of Agriculture -- George Boody; Community-Based Food Systems -- Terry VanDerPol.

Other partners and participants: Campaign for Family Farms and the Environment, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, Missouri Rural Crisis Center, Illinois Stewardship Alliance, Sustainable Agriculture Coaltion

Timeline/duration: Three year focus; ongoing
Projected or real startup time: Already started
Projected ending time or goal deadline: For Farm Bill, 2007-08.

Funding sources:

• Federal government
• Foundations
• Members
• Individual donors

Follow-up activities that will/might result from this activity: Continuing implementation/outreach work so farmers use the programs and the programs work well for farmers and for environmental stewardship.

Publications

The Farm as Natural Habitat: Reconnecting Food Systems with Ecosystems
This book, published in 2002, is a collection of narratives exploring the ways in which good farming, using nature as model, can restore ecosystems. It is edited by Dana L. Jackson and Laura L. Jackson, and includes 18 essays by conservationists, journalists, and conservation biologists.

The Multiple Benefits of Agriculture: An Economic, Environmental, and Social Analysis
This 52-page report finds that it is economically and environmentally beneficial to shift agriculture toward more diverse systems on actively farmed land -- and that if financial incentives motivate change, citizens are very wiling to pay. The study was led by a 15-person, cross-disciplinary team that included economists, farmers, conservationists, and sociologists.
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