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Creating a Regional Food System that benefits
farmers, consumers and the land
Food Alliance Midwest - Creating Food Choices
Food Alliance Midwest (FAM) is a third-party certification program that
uses a certification seal in a public education and consumer awareness
campaign to support local farms and foods. By looking for the FAM certification
seal, consumers can choose and purchase foods from farms that are local,
environmentally friendly, and socially responsible. Food Alliance Midwest
is the only certification that combines these healthful elements into
one certification seal.
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Farm and City Food Connections
LSP educates consumers on how they can support sustainable farmers by purchasing food directly from the farm. LSP helps link farmers and consumers through several resources and events: our Stewardship Food Directory listing of direct-marketing farmers, the Food and Farm Connection, Local
Foods Dinners, and the Community Food & Farm Festival that bring people together for good food and discussion of food issues, and other events.
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Pride of the Prairie
An important aspect of LSP's work is assisting sustainable producers
in cultivating profitable alternative markets and creating direct connections
with consumers. LSP offers a variety of resources and workshops on marketing
locally grown, sustainably raised farm products. Pride of the Prairie
is working to increase the variety and amount of locally produced foods
in restaurants, grocery stores and institutions in western Minnesota.
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Encouraging Stewardship through education, research
and demonstration
On Farm Research
LSP regularly supports research of farming practices that improve the
profitability, environmental sustainability and quality of life of family
farmers. LSP also takes an active role building relationships between
farmers, University researchers, agency representatives and environmentalists.
Recent collaborative efforts have researched farm sustainability as reflected
by water quality and financial data, and forage based livestock systems
and their impact on water quality and farm profitability.
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Planning and Managing for Stewardship
Incorporated into much of LSP's work is a holistic approach to managing
land, people and money - and their interrelationships. LSP offers several
training opportunities and resources that translate this holistic attitude
into practical techniques for planning and managing farming operations
including Whole Farm Planning workshops
and a Monitoring Tool Box
of techniques for monitoring the impact of management decisions on quality
of life, financial sustainability, soils, streams, birds, frogs, and pasture
vegetation. On-line sustainability calculator for farms.
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Farm Beginnings® - Preparing a New Generation of Farmers
The Farm Beginnings program trains new farmers in low-capital, environmentally-sound farming practices, financial management, whole farm planning and environmental monitoring. It also links participants with experienced sustainable farmers who serve as mentors. A zero interest livestock loan program is available to eligible Farm Beginnings graduates made possible by a generous grant from
Heifer Project International.
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Agroecology
The long-term goal of the Agroecology Program is to restore a relationship
between farming and the natural world that enhances the sustainability
of both and transforms rural landscapes into mixtures of agricultural
and natural ecosystems. To introduce these ideas about agroecological
restoration, LSP supported the writing of a book called The Farm as Natural
Habitat: Reconnecting Food Systems with Ecosystems, published by Island
Press in April 2002. LSP staff members participate in book readings, conferences
and programs based on themes related to those in the book. LSP is a founding
member of the Wild
Farm Alliance and participates in activities of this coalition to
promote agriculture that helps protect and restore wild nature.
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Creating a New Vision for Agriculture by organizing
communities for positive change
Federal Farm Policy
LSP has long worked on the national level for agricultural policy reforms that are good for the land, family farmers, consumers and our communities. Learn more…
State Policy
LSP works at the Minnesota State Legislature to advance policies and programs that support family farmers, rural communities, a healthy environment and vibrant economies. Learn more…
Local Community Organizing
LSP works with rural communities to protect and promote their right to practice local democracy. Learn more…
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The Land Stewardship Project supports the kind of practical science that can help farmers develop environmentally and economically sustainable systems of food and fiber production. Citizen-based science that takes a holistic approach to helping balance production with stewardship is already creating some exciting innovations in agriculture:
• The Monitoring Tool Box is a comprehensive resource for farmers and other land managers who want to monitor the impacts of various land uses on everything from water quality to a family's quality of life.
• Our Multiple Benefits of Agriculture & Pasture-Raised Livestock page describes how sustainable farming systems can produce various public goods. This page includes fact sheets, scientific papers, articles and reports.
• The Farm as Natural Habitat: Reconnecting Food Systems with Ecosystems is a groundbreaking book co-edited by LSP's Dana Jackson on restoring a relationship between farming and the natural world that improves the sustainability of both.
• LSP's Planning & Managing for Stewardship section offers a number of resources for planning and managing farming operations utilizing holistic, whole farm approaches.
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