Ear to the Ground 400: Small Farms, Big Markets

Ear to the Ground 400: Small Farms, Big Markets

Josh Bryceson sees The Good Acre food hub as a way to not only build markets for local vegetable producers, but to germinate the next generation of farmers (2 of 2 parts). More Information: • The Good Acre Food Hub [https://thegoodacre.org/] • LSP’s Community-Based Food Systems Program [https://landstewardshipproject.org/community-food/] • Ear to the Ground 399: Asking Why [https://landstewardshipproject.org/podcast/ear-to-the-ground-399-asking-why/]

Ear to the Ground 399: Asking Why

A decade ago, veggie and livestock farmers Josh Bryceson and Rama Hoffpauir realized sweat equity would only take them so far in their ag journey, so they looked up from the grindstone long enough to take in the big picture (1 of 2 parts). More Information: • Turnip Rock Farm & Cosmic Wheel Creamery [https://www.turniprock.com/] • LSP’s Farm Beginnings Course [https://landstewardshipproject.org/farm-beginnings-class/] • Farmland Access Holistic Financial Decision-Making Tool [https://landstewardshipproject.org/wp-content/uploads/Farmland-Access-Booklet_9_13_18.pdf]

Ear to the Ground 398: Land Grant Guarantee

Over the past three decades, the rotating Endowed Chair in Agricultural Systems has provided farmers and others a chance to build a more sustainable farm and food system in Minnesota. Farmer and community leader Marvin Johnson says now is not the time to close that public door into the University. More Information: • Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture [https://misa.umn.edu/] • Endowed Chair in Agricultural Systems [https://misadocuments.info/EndowedChair/endowed.html] • Opinion: Funding Cuts Hit Sustainable Agriculture Partnership with U of M [https://www.startribune.com/cfans-program-budget-cuts-university-of-minnesota/601467220] • Blog: Don Wyse’s Land Grant Legacy [https://landstewardshipproject.org/don-wyses-land-grant-legacy/] • Blog: Endowed Chair Puts the Right People in the Right Place to Address a Critical Problem [https://landstewardshipproject.org/breaking-the-meat-processing-bottleneck/]

Ear to the Ground 397: Black Energy

In 1986, Joe Paddock co-authored a book called Soil and Survival. Its message: the relationship between farming and the land is in serious need of repair. Four decades later, that message is more relevant than ever. More Information: • Soil and Survival [https://books.google.com/books/about/Soil_and_Survival.html?id=-f47baRgvhEC] • Planting in the Dust Script [https://landstewardshipproject.org/planting-in-the-dust/] • Joe Paddock [https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/joe-paddock] • Joe Paddock’s Books [https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/26783.Joe_Paddock] • Nancy Paddock [https://www.tpt.org/portrait/video/june-4-1991-14523/] • Carol Bly [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol_Bly] • Making Change from the Ground Up: 40 Stories for 40 Years of Land Stewardship Project [https://landstewardshipproject.org/product/making-change-from-the-ground-up-40-stories-for-40-years-of-land-stewardship-project/]

Ear to the Ground 396: Accountable Ag

These three crop producers see no reason why productive farming and clean water can’t co-exist. But first, we need to stop the greenwashing and get our hands dirty. (2 of 2 parts; part 1 is here [https://landstewardshipproject.org/podcast/ear-to-the-ground-395-the-lobe-rangers/]) More Information: • Ear to the Ground 395: The Lobe Rangers [https://landstewardshipproject.org/podcast/ear-to-the-ground-395-the-lobe-rangers/] • LSP Soil Health Web Page [https://landstewardshipproject.org/soil-health/] • LSP Myth Buster No. 68: “When Nitrogen is Gone, it Can be Forgotten” [https://landstewardshipproject.org/wp-content/uploads/Myth-Buster-68-Legacy-Nitrogen.pdf] • SARE Fact Sheet: “Cover Crops at Work: Keeping Nutrients Out of Waterways” [https://www.sare.org/publications/cover-crops-ecosystem-services/cover-crops-at-work-keeping-nutrients-out-of-waterways/] • Article: “A report tied Iowa’s water pollution to agriculture. Then the money to promote it mysteriously disappeared” [https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/30/iowa-agriculture-water-pollution] • Researcher’s Analysis of Nov. 2025 Iowa Farm Bureau Statement on Water Quality [https://riverraccoon.substack.com/p/goebbels-reports-progress-on-the] • LSP Blog: The Crop Insurance Conundrum [https://landstewardshipproject.org/the-crop-insurance-conundrum/] • PNAS Paper: “The Extent of Soil Loss Across the US Corn Belt” [https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1922375118] • ISU CARD Analysis: “Cover Crop Adoption Decelerates and No-till Area Stagnates in the I-States” [https://agpolicyreview.card.iastate.edu/winter-2024/cover-crop-adoption-decelerates-and-no-till-area-stagnates-i-states]