1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,760 It all comes down to saying this community should have a say in what happens to this 2 00:00:05,760 --> 00:00:06,840 community. 3 00:00:06,840 --> 00:00:11,040 And then we need to work to elect the people into those local levels who are in alignment 4 00:00:11,040 --> 00:00:12,040 with our values. 5 00:00:12,040 --> 00:00:15,920 Because if we have people aligned with our values in local government, nothing but great 6 00:00:15,920 --> 00:00:20,120 things can come from having local control because that community is having a very direct 7 00:00:20,120 --> 00:00:24,600 say whether it's the township or the county in what happens in their area and how their 8 00:00:24,600 --> 00:00:36,680 community is operating. 9 00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:41,560 Welcome to the 341st installment of Ear to the Ground, the Land Stewardship Projects 10 00:00:41,560 --> 00:00:47,160 podcast on family farming, regenerative agriculture, community food systems, and local democracy. 11 00:00:47,160 --> 00:00:51,360 I'm Brian DeVore, editor of the Land Stewardship Letter. 12 00:00:51,360 --> 00:00:55,100 As the old saying goes, all politics is local. 13 00:00:55,100 --> 00:01:00,600 In rural America, that's particularly true on the, well, local level. 14 00:01:00,600 --> 00:01:07,080 Over the years, LSP members have seen firsthand how township boards, county supervisors, soil 15 00:01:07,080 --> 00:01:11,880 and water conservation districts, and other local decision-making bodies can have a direct 16 00:01:11,880 --> 00:01:17,040 impact on the land, main street businesses, and all the people who live and make a living 17 00:01:17,040 --> 00:01:18,600 in farming communities. 18 00:01:18,600 --> 00:01:23,960 Local government impacts a lot of day-to-day machinations in a rural community, from how 19 00:01:23,960 --> 00:01:29,440 much gravel to apply to all those side roads farms rely on, to whether the zoning rules 20 00:01:29,440 --> 00:01:32,780 can be bent to accommodate a new construction project. 21 00:01:32,780 --> 00:01:37,400 But it's also become clear in recent years that if we think creatively about local government's 22 00:01:37,400 --> 00:01:43,300 role, it can have a major, positive influence on the long-term future of a community and 23 00:01:43,300 --> 00:01:48,280 things like water quality, local farm and food economies, and the building of resilient, 24 00:01:48,280 --> 00:01:49,280 healthy soil. 25 00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:53,720 Lately, Emily Minghe has been thinking a lot about just how influential local government 26 00:01:53,720 --> 00:01:57,000 is in the lives of farmers and other rural residents. 27 00:01:57,000 --> 00:02:01,380 Emily is a political organizer for LSP, and she spends much of her time working with the 28 00:02:01,380 --> 00:02:06,960 Land Stewardship Action Fund, the political organizing partner of our organization. 29 00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:14,480 LSP is a 501c3 nonprofit organization, which means we cannot get involved in electoral 30 00:02:14,480 --> 00:02:15,480 politics. 31 00:02:15,480 --> 00:02:19,960 But a few years ago, it became clear that there was only so much progress we could make 32 00:02:19,960 --> 00:02:25,480 on policy reform if there wasn't a way to influence who the decision-makers were in 33 00:02:25,480 --> 00:02:26,480 government. 34 00:02:26,480 --> 00:02:30,240 LSP members, leaders, and allies could no longer sit on the sidelines in the current 35 00:02:30,240 --> 00:02:35,380 political environment, but instead needed to proactively engage in elections so that 36 00:02:35,380 --> 00:02:38,060 folks have a say in who's representing them. 37 00:02:38,060 --> 00:02:42,640 As a result, in 2018, the Land Stewardship Project's Board of Directors created the 38 00:02:42,640 --> 00:02:47,460 Land Stewardship Action Fund, known as LSAF for short. 39 00:02:47,460 --> 00:02:53,160 This is a 501c4 organization, which means it can get involved in electoral politics 40 00:02:53,160 --> 00:02:57,280 by, among other things, endorsing certain candidates for office. 41 00:02:57,280 --> 00:03:01,440 As a political organizer, it's Emily's job to figure out what issues are important 42 00:03:01,440 --> 00:03:07,100 to our members and allies, and how LSAF can help advance those policies through the support 43 00:03:07,100 --> 00:03:11,800 of certain candidates and the building of power through the electoral process. 44 00:03:11,800 --> 00:03:16,120 As part of this work, during the past several months, Emily and other organizers have held 45 00:03:16,120 --> 00:03:21,360 numerous conversations with rural people who live in various parts of Minnesota. 46 00:03:21,360 --> 00:03:25,160 One thing that's become clear recently is that while state and federal politics are 47 00:03:25,160 --> 00:03:30,120 important, it's local decision-making that has some of the most immediate impacts on 48 00:03:30,120 --> 00:03:31,120 people's lives. 49 00:03:31,120 --> 00:03:35,340 And it's also on the local level people feel they have the most influence, whether 50 00:03:35,340 --> 00:03:40,140 it be as a voter, a candidate for office, or a participant in a community meeting on 51 00:03:40,140 --> 00:03:41,360 a particular issue. 52 00:03:41,360 --> 00:03:46,240 That's why LSAF is currently increasingly focusing on local elections for everything 53 00:03:46,240 --> 00:03:51,320 from township officers and county supervisors to members of soil and water conservation 54 00:03:51,320 --> 00:03:52,320 district boards. 55 00:03:52,320 --> 00:03:57,000 I recently sat down with Emily to talk about why we should be paying attention to who runs 56 00:03:57,000 --> 00:04:02,600 local government and ways people can get more involved in influencing such decision-making 57 00:04:02,600 --> 00:04:08,360 bodies or, when needed, changing who's sitting on those boards in the first place. 58 00:04:08,360 --> 00:04:13,400 We also discuss examples of how taking a creative view of the role local government can play 59 00:04:13,400 --> 00:04:18,340 in what a community prioritizes offers an exciting glimpse at ways of creating a more 60 00:04:18,340 --> 00:04:23,760 resilient future for the land, our farms, and Main Street economies. 61 00:04:23,760 --> 00:04:27,640 We're currently, Land Stewardship Project's in the midst of developing its next five-year 62 00:04:27,640 --> 00:04:28,640 plan. 63 00:04:28,640 --> 00:04:37,040 And going through the, we did listening sessions, we also did surveys with members and allies 64 00:04:37,040 --> 00:04:41,880 and really gathered a lot of information for this that's going into this plan. 65 00:04:41,880 --> 00:04:47,960 One of the things that struck me was our members, one of the priorities they would like to see 66 00:04:47,960 --> 00:04:54,440 LSP to continue working on and to emphasize even more in the future is policy change. 67 00:04:54,440 --> 00:04:55,440 Great. 68 00:04:55,440 --> 00:04:56,440 So we're doing that. 69 00:04:56,440 --> 00:04:57,520 We have a policy program. 70 00:04:57,520 --> 00:05:03,300 We have Land Stewardship Action Fund that's working on these issues. 71 00:05:03,300 --> 00:05:09,920 But it also became clear that people didn't quite get the connection sometimes to some 72 00:05:09,920 --> 00:05:14,720 of this more political work or some of this organizing that needs to be done around that 73 00:05:14,720 --> 00:05:16,360 and policy change. 74 00:05:16,360 --> 00:05:17,360 That kind of surprised me. 75 00:05:17,360 --> 00:05:18,880 I mean, does that surprise you? 76 00:05:18,880 --> 00:05:21,040 And is that something that you've run into? 77 00:05:21,040 --> 00:05:27,140 It doesn't surprise me because even historically, if we look at LSP, we were started as more 78 00:05:27,140 --> 00:05:30,160 of a policy focus back in the 80s. 79 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:34,760 The programmatic work has really grown and become a huge staple and center of the work 80 00:05:34,760 --> 00:05:35,760 that we do here. 81 00:05:35,760 --> 00:05:40,840 But I think we look back and people who have often come in through our programs work, through 82 00:05:40,840 --> 00:05:45,720 farm beginnings, soil health groups, sometimes we've struggled to get them involved in policy 83 00:05:45,720 --> 00:05:46,720 work. 84 00:05:46,720 --> 00:05:50,580 There is this disconnect even between creating the change on the land that we're looking 85 00:05:50,580 --> 00:05:53,320 to see and passing the policy that we need. 86 00:05:53,320 --> 00:05:57,720 That disconnect we've seen starkly throughout our history and our organizing. 87 00:05:57,720 --> 00:06:00,000 And I think we're doing a lot better on that now. 88 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:05,840 I think we've made a lot of progress in connecting those issues with folks and drawing those 89 00:06:05,840 --> 00:06:11,240 mental dots between the necessity of policy to advance the programmatic work. 90 00:06:11,240 --> 00:06:14,080 So I kind of view this as the next phase of that. 91 00:06:14,080 --> 00:06:18,400 We've gotten people more comfortable with the idea of advocating for policy, lobbying, 92 00:06:18,400 --> 00:06:23,440 talking to their legislator, but now it's that next step of engaging in elections. 93 00:06:23,440 --> 00:06:27,120 So it kind of feels like this natural trend that we've seen before. 94 00:06:27,120 --> 00:06:32,440 In our elections for a while and even more so now, they are polarized and they're partisan 95 00:06:32,440 --> 00:06:34,520 and they are getting more and more so. 96 00:06:34,520 --> 00:06:40,180 And so I think people have a lot of fear around elections in general, not just around Land 97 00:06:40,180 --> 00:06:44,920 Stewardship Action Fund and LSP engaging in that space through the Action Fund. 98 00:06:44,920 --> 00:06:49,520 I think in general people are a little bit turned off by elections, by elected officials, 99 00:06:49,520 --> 00:06:51,560 by candidates, and I get that. 100 00:06:51,560 --> 00:06:53,360 I completely understand. 101 00:06:53,360 --> 00:06:59,320 So I think people have a fear about LSP getting involved in elections through the Action Fund 102 00:06:59,320 --> 00:07:04,400 because it might feed into some of this division and divisiveness that we see on a national 103 00:07:04,400 --> 00:07:08,500 and international level or even within our state as well. 104 00:07:08,500 --> 00:07:14,880 And since LSP has historically engaged folks who have varying political backgrounds, while 105 00:07:14,880 --> 00:07:20,500 LSAF, the Action Fund, can be partisan, we've always talked about how we are nonpartisan. 106 00:07:20,500 --> 00:07:22,360 We do have people of varying political backgrounds. 107 00:07:22,360 --> 00:07:27,040 And so I think people get really worried about turning off certain people or dividing our 108 00:07:27,040 --> 00:07:33,000 base by endorsing or supporting a specific candidate or candidates that probably are 109 00:07:33,000 --> 00:07:35,960 also endorsed by a specific political party. 110 00:07:35,960 --> 00:07:39,560 That's one of the reasons why people, I don't know if it's that they don't see the connection, 111 00:07:39,560 --> 00:07:46,040 but I think that there's just that fear around elections and what that could bring with it, 112 00:07:46,040 --> 00:07:49,640 with the partisan and divisiveness that we've seen. 113 00:07:49,640 --> 00:07:53,520 So I guess it doesn't surprise me, but also at the same time, we know how important it 114 00:07:53,520 --> 00:07:56,880 is to have the people in office to champion that as well. 115 00:07:56,880 --> 00:08:02,880 Well, to me, a real specific example that I've seen recently is we have a soil health 116 00:08:02,880 --> 00:08:06,240 program that promotes soil health practices. 117 00:08:06,240 --> 00:08:07,960 And had a lot of good luck with that. 118 00:08:07,960 --> 00:08:12,480 We've created these networks of farmers who are sharing this information. 119 00:08:12,480 --> 00:08:17,700 But we found that there is a point where there's a limit to how much they can transition into 120 00:08:17,700 --> 00:08:23,320 some of these practices because, for example, the farm bill penalizes you for diversifying 121 00:08:23,320 --> 00:08:28,640 or for using certain practices or put some barriers in place there. 122 00:08:28,640 --> 00:08:33,680 So on the state level anyway, we've been able to, because we've had certain folks who were 123 00:08:33,680 --> 00:08:38,480 at the legislature who support some of these practices, get in place some funding to help 124 00:08:38,480 --> 00:08:42,240 farmers transition into something like building soil health. 125 00:08:42,240 --> 00:08:43,240 Exactly. 126 00:08:43,240 --> 00:08:48,200 And we've always kind of viewed land stewardship project and then the action fund in relation 127 00:08:48,200 --> 00:08:54,360 is we've got the base of this whole old school food pyramid is our members. 128 00:08:54,360 --> 00:08:59,480 That's the base of the pyramid there is our membership and our actual base. 129 00:08:59,480 --> 00:09:01,560 And then we go into the programmatic work. 130 00:09:01,560 --> 00:09:06,800 We have the folks who are interacting with the farmers who are working on the land to 131 00:09:06,800 --> 00:09:11,040 put our vision into practice, into make it a reality. 132 00:09:11,040 --> 00:09:14,960 But we can't make our vision a reality if we don't have the policy in place that supports 133 00:09:14,960 --> 00:09:15,960 it, right? 134 00:09:15,960 --> 00:09:22,020 Whether that's through a farm bill, through state policy or local policy as well and regulations, 135 00:09:22,020 --> 00:09:24,760 we can't actually put that vision into practice. 136 00:09:24,760 --> 00:09:30,360 But we also can't pass the policy that we need for the vision if we don't have the people 137 00:09:30,360 --> 00:09:33,560 in office that are going to want to champion that. 138 00:09:33,560 --> 00:09:38,800 I think we do an incredible job with our lobbying work and engaging elected officials, but there's 139 00:09:38,800 --> 00:09:42,720 really only so far that you're going to be able to get with certain elected officials. 140 00:09:42,720 --> 00:09:48,920 I think because of like we just talked about that kind of division and partisanship within 141 00:09:48,920 --> 00:09:54,000 politics right now, people aren't necessarily looking always to collaborate or engage in 142 00:09:54,000 --> 00:09:58,400 conversation that doesn't align with their quote unquote party values. 143 00:09:58,400 --> 00:10:02,940 So in a recent issue, the land stewardship letter you wrote about how land stewardship 144 00:10:02,940 --> 00:10:09,080 action fund is recently started to focus a little bit more on local government impacts 145 00:10:09,080 --> 00:10:11,800 on the local government level. 146 00:10:11,800 --> 00:10:17,800 And one of the things that came out of one of the reasons that that kind of focus or 147 00:10:17,800 --> 00:10:22,160 maybe refocus a little bit on the local, it came out of I guess you had some conversations 148 00:10:22,160 --> 00:10:27,920 with folks around the state and talk to them about that. 149 00:10:27,920 --> 00:10:32,400 Talk a little bit more about some of those conversations and kind of what we mean by 150 00:10:32,400 --> 00:10:37,680 how is this different maybe than what would have been the focus before a little bit. 151 00:10:37,680 --> 00:10:38,680 Yeah. 152 00:10:38,680 --> 00:10:44,680 So prior to this year, land stewardship action fund has only ever supported or endorsed candidates 153 00:10:44,680 --> 00:10:50,120 at the state wide level or the state house or Senate level. 154 00:10:50,120 --> 00:10:54,560 And I think this year, I've been having a lot of conversations with folks all over the 155 00:10:54,560 --> 00:10:59,200 state who have been involved with different aspects of LSPs work to kind of understand 156 00:10:59,200 --> 00:11:03,200 how do they interact with government and with elected officials most, how do they see that 157 00:11:03,200 --> 00:11:06,640 impacting their life in the most like direct immediate way. 158 00:11:06,640 --> 00:11:11,480 And I think there are a few reasons why local really stood out to me and something that 159 00:11:11,480 --> 00:11:16,360 I really advocated for us to focus on this year is one, what we were just touching on 160 00:11:16,360 --> 00:11:21,280 is local is not associated with any specific party. 161 00:11:21,280 --> 00:11:26,900 When you look at county government or township government, it's nonpartisan. 162 00:11:26,900 --> 00:11:33,320 And I think that is going to allow LSAF to get out of some of those spaces where people 163 00:11:33,320 --> 00:11:39,800 are associating us with a party or calling us partisan because we can just be looking 164 00:11:39,800 --> 00:11:43,420 at candidates based on their values, which is what we're doing anyway. 165 00:11:43,420 --> 00:11:45,460 We don't have to worry about those labels. 166 00:11:45,460 --> 00:11:49,080 So I think it kind of allows us to explore that space a little bit more, which I think 167 00:11:49,080 --> 00:11:54,320 is going to be really valuable for us and for our membership and our base. 168 00:11:54,320 --> 00:11:59,560 I think it's going to allow more people, whether it's from the program's work or the policy 169 00:11:59,560 --> 00:12:03,440 work to actually see themselves in this work and feel more connected to it. 170 00:12:03,440 --> 00:12:09,000 I talked to a lot of people who are interested in who's running for their soil, water conservation 171 00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:13,260 district or their county commissioner, but they don't want to talk about the presidential 172 00:12:13,260 --> 00:12:15,040 race at all, which is fair. 173 00:12:15,040 --> 00:12:18,960 I hardly do either. 174 00:12:18,960 --> 00:12:24,280 So I think that it does allow for more people to feel connected to this work for us to kind 175 00:12:24,280 --> 00:12:27,680 of occupy a space that more people in our base are excited by. 176 00:12:27,680 --> 00:12:31,760 I also think that people in rural communities, from what I've been hearing in the conversations 177 00:12:31,760 --> 00:12:35,560 I've been having, just feel more connected to their local government. 178 00:12:35,560 --> 00:12:40,240 Maybe they're already in conversation or relationship with their county commissioners, their township 179 00:12:40,240 --> 00:12:44,720 board supervisors, their soil, water conservation district supervisor as well. 180 00:12:44,720 --> 00:12:47,480 They know these people serving in these governments. 181 00:12:47,480 --> 00:12:52,960 Maybe they've used SWCD programs or they've had to talk to the county board about a zoning 182 00:12:52,960 --> 00:12:54,360 ordinance they were looking at. 183 00:12:54,360 --> 00:12:56,000 They see it as part of their community. 184 00:12:56,000 --> 00:13:01,800 They don't see it as this big level of government that feels untouchable or intangible to them. 185 00:13:01,800 --> 00:13:03,400 It's part of their community. 186 00:13:03,400 --> 00:13:08,040 And I also think that local government, and we can get into this more, but it has such 187 00:13:08,040 --> 00:13:12,720 a big ability to have an impact on our farm and food system. 188 00:13:12,720 --> 00:13:16,240 You know, yes, there is the Farm Bill and there is state policy that really directs 189 00:13:16,240 --> 00:13:21,640 a lot of funding in certain ways, but then it's these local electives and appointed officials 190 00:13:21,640 --> 00:13:24,080 who are actually distributing that funding, right? 191 00:13:24,080 --> 00:13:28,780 Whether it's for land use or water, they are the ones who are working in direct relationship 192 00:13:28,780 --> 00:13:33,020 with farmers to distribute the funding and to help implement the different practices 193 00:13:33,020 --> 00:13:34,080 and programs. 194 00:13:34,080 --> 00:13:37,680 And I think they do just have more direct interaction with farmers as well. 195 00:13:37,680 --> 00:13:42,040 They're out in the field with them, talking to them, understanding what the needs of the 196 00:13:42,040 --> 00:13:45,240 farming community and the other rural community members are. 197 00:13:45,240 --> 00:13:49,360 And I also think that, yeah, kind of like I was mentioning, the local levels hold a 198 00:13:49,360 --> 00:13:51,040 lot of purse strings as well. 199 00:13:51,040 --> 00:13:55,000 You know, there's a lot of federal and state money that is passed. 200 00:13:55,000 --> 00:13:59,880 And then, like we look at the American Rescue Act or any of the big COVID relief funding 201 00:13:59,880 --> 00:14:07,200 packages, a lot of that went to counties and townships to then distribute to folks in their 202 00:14:07,200 --> 00:14:08,200 county or township. 203 00:14:08,200 --> 00:14:12,560 And it was then the Economic Development Authority boards that were receiving applications from 204 00:14:12,560 --> 00:14:15,940 residents in the community for what they wanted to do with that. 205 00:14:15,940 --> 00:14:23,120 So having people in those spaces who are actually getting that funding and then being able to 206 00:14:23,120 --> 00:14:25,480 distribute it is really impactful as well. 207 00:14:25,480 --> 00:14:30,400 Yeah, and you alluded to this, but can you give a couple examples of how decisions on 208 00:14:30,400 --> 00:14:33,560 that local level have affected the work LSP does? 209 00:14:33,560 --> 00:14:38,320 Yeah, so I mean, there are some really big examples that we can get into for how local 210 00:14:38,320 --> 00:14:40,520 government has impacted LSP's work. 211 00:14:40,520 --> 00:14:44,680 But I mean, you look at Southeast Minnesota and we look at, you know, the animal unit 212 00:14:44,680 --> 00:14:49,000 cap that was passed and then enforced in Winona County. 213 00:14:49,000 --> 00:14:51,880 That was because that's a county animal unit cap, right? 214 00:14:51,880 --> 00:14:56,880 That was because the county commissioners and the planning and zoning commission there 215 00:14:56,880 --> 00:14:58,760 passed that animal unit cap. 216 00:14:58,760 --> 00:15:02,400 They said that this is what we think is best for our community based on the conversations 217 00:15:02,400 --> 00:15:05,320 we're having with residents of Winona County. 218 00:15:05,320 --> 00:15:07,280 Then you also look at the fracsan band. 219 00:15:07,280 --> 00:15:11,400 That was an entirely local issue, a Winona County specific issue. 220 00:15:11,400 --> 00:15:17,200 And we've seen other ordinances and caps for animal units passed at township levels as 221 00:15:17,200 --> 00:15:23,440 well with the township supervisor saying that this is what we need in this specific locality. 222 00:15:23,440 --> 00:15:28,880 We've also seen this though with land use, zoning buffers around for any farmland or 223 00:15:28,880 --> 00:15:35,800 by roadways or also by any water systems, buffers are completely locally controlled. 224 00:15:35,800 --> 00:15:41,920 We've seen different variances too if someone wants a variance for example, like multifamily 225 00:15:41,920 --> 00:15:47,400 farming or dwellings, multiple dwelling units on a farm, they would need a variance as well 226 00:15:47,400 --> 00:15:48,400 often. 227 00:15:48,400 --> 00:15:50,140 So that all goes through local government. 228 00:15:50,140 --> 00:15:55,440 So anything about like land use and zoning within their locality, they have control over 229 00:15:55,440 --> 00:15:56,440 and they have a say in it. 230 00:15:56,440 --> 00:15:59,040 We've also seen actually proactive. 231 00:15:59,040 --> 00:16:01,320 You know, we've seen so many proactive measures too. 232 00:16:01,320 --> 00:16:06,040 And out in western Minnesota, one of our staff, Scott Demuth and Amy Bacic-Lupo are really 233 00:16:06,040 --> 00:16:11,000 working with some of the western Minnesota County Economic Development Authority boards 234 00:16:11,000 --> 00:16:12,960 about investing in local food systems. 235 00:16:12,960 --> 00:16:14,320 You know, they have money. 236 00:16:14,320 --> 00:16:16,700 The EDAs have money often to work with. 237 00:16:16,700 --> 00:16:20,760 So it's about making sure that you're having those conversations to say, can this money 238 00:16:20,760 --> 00:16:27,440 go toward processing or creating a food hub or connecting farmers to markets or investing 239 00:16:27,440 --> 00:16:30,560 in a farm to school program or coordinator? 240 00:16:30,560 --> 00:16:34,380 So that's a huge way to a proactive way that we're creating the food system we want, not 241 00:16:34,380 --> 00:16:36,960 just fighting against the things that pop up. 242 00:16:36,960 --> 00:16:38,200 But it's important for both. 243 00:16:38,200 --> 00:16:43,360 It's something that LSP has always tried to kind of work on some narrative around the 244 00:16:43,360 --> 00:16:48,480 importance of local control because local control is not a partisan issue. 245 00:16:48,480 --> 00:16:53,880 We've actually seen some organizations that we've been in partnership with on other issues 246 00:16:53,880 --> 00:16:58,200 be more opposed to local control because of some of the social issues that have come up 247 00:16:58,200 --> 00:16:59,200 on local levels. 248 00:16:59,200 --> 00:17:02,440 For example, like a book ban, something that wouldn't necessarily be in alignment with 249 00:17:02,440 --> 00:17:03,880 LSP's values. 250 00:17:03,880 --> 00:17:08,400 That is something that came out of a local control fight because it's the local school 251 00:17:08,400 --> 00:17:12,060 boards that say we can ban books in our jurisdiction. 252 00:17:12,060 --> 00:17:13,400 So it's not a partisan issue. 253 00:17:13,400 --> 00:17:18,600 But it all comes down to saying this community should have a say in what happens to this 254 00:17:18,600 --> 00:17:20,140 community. 255 00:17:20,140 --> 00:17:24,280 And then we need to work to elect the people into those local levels, whether that is school 256 00:17:24,280 --> 00:17:28,520 board or county or township, who are in alignment with our values. 257 00:17:28,520 --> 00:17:32,560 Because if we have people aligned with our values in local government, nothing but great 258 00:17:32,560 --> 00:17:36,880 things can come from having local control because that community is having a very direct 259 00:17:36,880 --> 00:17:41,240 say, whether it's the township or the county, in what happens in their area and how their 260 00:17:41,240 --> 00:17:42,920 community is operating. 261 00:17:42,920 --> 00:17:47,440 So yeah, it's been huge and something that LSP has done a lot of narrative work around 262 00:17:47,440 --> 00:17:49,940 too to show people why it's so important. 263 00:17:49,940 --> 00:17:52,360 It's interesting on how all these things tie together. 264 00:17:52,360 --> 00:17:58,120 One of the big issues that's kind of dominated southeastern Minnesota in the past, almost 265 00:17:58,120 --> 00:18:02,960 going on a year now, but maybe at least six months, is nitrate contamination. 266 00:18:02,960 --> 00:18:06,480 It's been a big issue for a long time, but it's gotten more attention recently. 267 00:18:06,480 --> 00:18:12,120 The EPA has stepped in, and partly because of a petition LSP and some other organizations 268 00:18:12,120 --> 00:18:17,800 sent to the EPA asking them to address nitrate pollution, which the vast majority of it's 269 00:18:17,800 --> 00:18:21,760 being traced to runoff from agricultural systems there. 270 00:18:21,760 --> 00:18:26,120 But one of the things that ties into that is I know you've talked about situation in 271 00:18:26,120 --> 00:18:28,320 Fillmore County, which is in southeast Minnesota. 272 00:18:28,320 --> 00:18:30,400 It's in the heart of Karst country. 273 00:18:30,400 --> 00:18:35,760 And there's some residents there, some LSP members and some other folks who are pretty 274 00:18:35,760 --> 00:18:41,520 concerned that the local county government took the opposite approach of what maybe they 275 00:18:41,520 --> 00:18:45,680 thought should be done as far as dealing with this problem. 276 00:18:45,680 --> 00:18:46,720 Can you talk a little bit about that? 277 00:18:46,720 --> 00:18:51,280 I think that's a good example of folks, they realized, oh, we really do have to have some 278 00:18:51,280 --> 00:18:55,880 impact on what's happening on this local level because this is going in the wrong direction 279 00:18:55,880 --> 00:18:56,880 right here. 280 00:18:56,880 --> 00:19:00,720 And I think it's also a really good example of why it's important to have a say in who 281 00:19:00,720 --> 00:19:05,360 you're electing, whether that's recruiting candidates or just working to support candidates 282 00:19:05,360 --> 00:19:07,680 that are in alignment with your values. 283 00:19:07,680 --> 00:19:11,920 So yes, it was about a year and a half ago, I think, that there was a proposal to double 284 00:19:11,920 --> 00:19:14,000 Fillmore County's animal unit cap. 285 00:19:14,000 --> 00:19:17,360 It was at 2,000, the proposal was to double it to 4,000. 286 00:19:17,360 --> 00:19:24,240 LSP and others, Responsible Ag and Karst Country came together and said, we're not in alignment 287 00:19:24,240 --> 00:19:25,240 with this. 288 00:19:25,240 --> 00:19:26,880 We're in agreement with doubling the animal unit cap. 289 00:19:26,880 --> 00:19:30,000 One, we already have a nitrate problem in our drinking water. 290 00:19:30,000 --> 00:19:34,500 And two, we're in Karst Country, which means that any runoff is affecting people's drinking 291 00:19:34,500 --> 00:19:36,280 water all over the state. 292 00:19:36,280 --> 00:19:40,560 But in Karst topography down in southeast Minnesota, it's just that much more vulnerable. 293 00:19:40,560 --> 00:19:43,280 It's why we see the nitrate levels that we do down there. 294 00:19:43,280 --> 00:19:44,920 So they didn't agree. 295 00:19:44,920 --> 00:19:49,200 And I think we had a petition, I forget exactly how many signatures, but I want to say around 296 00:19:49,200 --> 00:19:51,740 300 signatures collected on this petition. 297 00:19:51,740 --> 00:19:56,320 We had massive numbers of people showing up to these county commissioner hearings and 298 00:19:56,320 --> 00:19:57,800 meetings. 299 00:19:57,800 --> 00:20:03,440 And the board unanimously voted to double the cap, to pass it. 300 00:20:03,440 --> 00:20:04,880 And people were really upset. 301 00:20:04,880 --> 00:20:10,720 And I think that having a huge petition, large numbers of people showing up, and yes, of 302 00:20:10,720 --> 00:20:13,360 course, people showing up in support of doubling the cap too. 303 00:20:13,360 --> 00:20:15,960 That's not to say those were the only voices they were hearing. 304 00:20:15,960 --> 00:20:20,200 And then have the board just not even give it a second thought and just double the cap. 305 00:20:20,200 --> 00:20:25,000 It really frustrated people, and it showed them that we can do all we can do, and we 306 00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:27,240 still might not win. 307 00:20:27,240 --> 00:20:31,960 We do need to have a say in who's actually in these offices if we want to be passing 308 00:20:31,960 --> 00:20:35,240 or not passing the policy that supports our community. 309 00:20:35,240 --> 00:20:41,800 So that was a really big example of them realizing that it's not just about organizing and petitions 310 00:20:41,800 --> 00:20:44,560 and that type of lobbying effort. 311 00:20:44,560 --> 00:20:47,160 It also needs to be about the electoral piece of it too. 312 00:20:47,160 --> 00:20:48,960 Well, on the more proactive side... 313 00:20:48,960 --> 00:20:50,520 Their neighbor to the north. 314 00:20:50,520 --> 00:20:52,720 Their neighbor to the north in Olmsted County. 315 00:20:52,720 --> 00:20:57,320 Again, it was a different approach dealing with the nitrate contamination issue and some 316 00:20:57,320 --> 00:20:59,600 of the other water quality issues. 317 00:20:59,600 --> 00:21:04,120 I think this is a really interesting example of local government coming together with 318 00:21:04,120 --> 00:21:09,800 a local kind of government entity or agency in the form of the Soil and Water Conservation 319 00:21:09,800 --> 00:21:10,800 District. 320 00:21:10,800 --> 00:21:16,640 I remember talking to a member of the Board of Supervisors who pushed this program. 321 00:21:16,640 --> 00:21:20,000 He's a well driller, very concerned about water quality. 322 00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:28,240 Boy, it's almost like a textbook example of local government taking the initiative, working 323 00:21:28,240 --> 00:21:33,680 with local farmers and a local agency and local natural resource professionals. 324 00:21:33,680 --> 00:21:35,920 Anyway, talk about that example. 325 00:21:35,920 --> 00:21:38,440 I think that's another good example of why local... 326 00:21:38,440 --> 00:21:41,640 We can have a really positive impact on the local level. 327 00:21:41,640 --> 00:21:46,080 It should also be said that because this program has been so successful, it's being considered 328 00:21:46,080 --> 00:21:50,640 as maybe doing it as a pilot program for the entire state. 329 00:21:50,640 --> 00:21:56,040 I actually think that this program, this example in Olmsted County is one of the reasons why 330 00:21:56,040 --> 00:22:01,160 we are looking at Soil and Water Conservation District elections this fall. 331 00:22:01,160 --> 00:22:04,200 We were thinking about county as well. 332 00:22:04,200 --> 00:22:08,920 That's still, of course, very important, but we saw this example and how impactful it's 333 00:22:08,920 --> 00:22:14,440 been in Olmsted County with already tangible nitrate reductions in the drinking water. 334 00:22:14,440 --> 00:22:21,520 We realized that we need to get people into these SWCD levels who want to be innovative 335 00:22:21,520 --> 00:22:24,320 and creative the way that Olmsted County was. 336 00:22:24,320 --> 00:22:25,800 It's not just about... 337 00:22:25,800 --> 00:22:30,720 I talk to a lot of people now about their SWCD supervisors and I say, how are they doing? 338 00:22:30,720 --> 00:22:31,720 What's it like? 339 00:22:31,720 --> 00:22:32,720 They're like, I think it's fine. 340 00:22:32,720 --> 00:22:33,720 I'm like, yeah, I'm sure it's fine. 341 00:22:33,720 --> 00:22:38,200 They're not planning on doing anything wrong, but what more could they be doing? 342 00:22:38,200 --> 00:22:39,600 I think with Olmsted County is... 343 00:22:39,600 --> 00:22:44,360 You mentioned it was one of the county commissioners, I think, who as a well driller and just said, 344 00:22:44,360 --> 00:22:49,400 hey, I see a problem and I'm in a position to start a conversation about this, maybe 345 00:22:49,400 --> 00:22:50,400 do something about it. 346 00:22:50,400 --> 00:22:56,920 So I believe he went to the rest of the board, but then also to the SWCD board and the staff 347 00:22:56,920 --> 00:22:59,640 and said, let's figure out something. 348 00:22:59,640 --> 00:23:02,280 Let's figure out a solution to this. 349 00:23:02,280 --> 00:23:05,840 One thing that's pretty unique about the Olmsted County model that we would have to figure 350 00:23:05,840 --> 00:23:10,920 out if we were to expand this out into the state is they used funds from, I believe it 351 00:23:10,920 --> 00:23:12,520 was the American Rescue Act. 352 00:23:12,520 --> 00:23:16,560 It was not state funding from Bowser, so that had a ton of flexibility. 353 00:23:16,560 --> 00:23:20,000 They were able to use those funds in whatever way they wanted. 354 00:23:20,000 --> 00:23:25,320 They didn't have to have the same results or deliverables that Bowser might require, 355 00:23:25,320 --> 00:23:27,560 the state might require for their funding program. 356 00:23:27,560 --> 00:23:31,640 So they had that flexibility, which was great, but they have people on the board that wanted 357 00:23:31,640 --> 00:23:34,960 to be creative and innovative, and they also have staff. 358 00:23:34,960 --> 00:23:40,320 We have Martin Larson, who's on staff with the Olmsted Soil and Water Conservation District, 359 00:23:40,320 --> 00:23:46,280 Shona Langsath, who used to work here at LSP, is on staff with the SWCD there as well. 360 00:23:46,280 --> 00:23:51,720 People who really know are in communication and understand farming in the area, or are 361 00:23:51,720 --> 00:23:55,600 farmers such as Martin is, and they were like, what actually works? 362 00:23:55,600 --> 00:23:57,400 Not just what are we doing, what have we done? 363 00:23:57,400 --> 00:24:02,800 Yeah, we've got the Minnesota Ag Water Quality Certification Program, we've got these various 364 00:24:02,800 --> 00:24:06,840 cover crop programs, but what actually works? 365 00:24:06,840 --> 00:24:12,760 And so they looked at both results-based payments, so getting money upfront for implementing 366 00:24:12,760 --> 00:24:17,080 practices, but then also you get more money if you let your cover crops grow to a certain 367 00:24:17,080 --> 00:24:20,680 height as opposed to just planting cover crops. 368 00:24:20,680 --> 00:24:24,400 You get more money for layering different practices too, the more that you layer, the 369 00:24:24,400 --> 00:24:26,000 additional funding that you get. 370 00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:30,400 And I think that they really were innovative and creative with it, and they've seen results 371 00:24:30,400 --> 00:24:31,800 come from that. 372 00:24:31,800 --> 00:24:35,960 And so I think it takes people in these local levels who don't just want to continue the 373 00:24:35,960 --> 00:24:36,960 status quo. 374 00:24:36,960 --> 00:24:41,200 If we look at Township, everyone says, oh yeah, Township, roads and bridges. 375 00:24:41,200 --> 00:24:45,960 And I'm like, yes, however, what more can they be doing? 376 00:24:45,960 --> 00:24:51,060 There's so much more that falls in their jurisdiction and that they have the ability to do besides 377 00:24:51,060 --> 00:24:56,320 roads and bridges or just traditional soil water conservation district programs. 378 00:24:56,320 --> 00:25:01,960 And so I think it's about having people in those offices that actually want to work with 379 00:25:01,960 --> 00:25:06,920 land stewardship projects, work with farmers, and come up with solutions. 380 00:25:06,920 --> 00:25:08,200 There's a couple of things going on there. 381 00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:12,380 One is you mentioned federal money helped fund this program. 382 00:25:12,380 --> 00:25:16,920 If a federal agency had come in and said, we're going to put this program in place here 383 00:25:16,920 --> 00:25:20,800 in Olmsted County, it just wouldn't have flown as well. 384 00:25:20,800 --> 00:25:26,860 I mean, this was local folks saying, this is the way we're going to use this federal 385 00:25:26,860 --> 00:25:27,860 money kind of thing. 386 00:25:27,860 --> 00:25:29,280 Because they understand their community too, right? 387 00:25:29,280 --> 00:25:33,680 Like if we think about Olmsted or Fillmore County down in southeast Minnesota, the geography 388 00:25:33,680 --> 00:25:39,080 looks so different than it does up by Moorhead or in kind of the central sands area that 389 00:25:39,080 --> 00:25:43,260 also has nitrate contamination issues because they have sandy soil. 390 00:25:43,260 --> 00:25:47,000 And so runoff just goes right through the sand into the groundwater. 391 00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:51,560 There are issues with drinking water all over, but you have to understand the local dynamics 392 00:25:51,560 --> 00:25:57,200 with both the political nature of that area and the geographical nature too, to really 393 00:25:57,200 --> 00:26:00,360 figure out what the solutions that are going to work are. 394 00:26:00,360 --> 00:26:06,000 I think the other thing about that that's really interesting is there's always a foundation 395 00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:09,560 there or a background that people don't see right off the bat. 396 00:26:09,560 --> 00:26:15,680 And one of them is if that county supervisor had gone to the SWCD and said, we need to 397 00:26:15,680 --> 00:26:22,760 figure out a way to support farmers in using practices that cut nitrate to contamination 398 00:26:22,760 --> 00:26:26,640 and put in place some of these regenerative ag practices. 399 00:26:26,640 --> 00:26:32,920 And there wasn't in place already a group of farmers who had proven it could be done. 400 00:26:32,920 --> 00:26:34,640 I don't know how far that would have went. 401 00:26:34,640 --> 00:26:41,860 And that is an example of for about a half a dozen years before that, LSP had been working 402 00:26:41,860 --> 00:26:43,080 in that area. 403 00:26:43,080 --> 00:26:46,880 There were farmers who had shown this can be done on a practical basis. 404 00:26:46,880 --> 00:26:51,400 This isn't just something that some expert from far away said, yeah, this is the way 405 00:26:51,400 --> 00:26:54,800 you can reduce it and then it doesn't work in that particular area and that climate and 406 00:26:54,800 --> 00:26:56,160 that kind of soils. 407 00:26:56,160 --> 00:27:01,520 And so it's a really good and I know when they went to develop this program, farmers 408 00:27:01,520 --> 00:27:06,160 had input, this is what's practical, this is what works, this is what won't work, this 409 00:27:06,160 --> 00:27:08,020 is what will provide the incentive. 410 00:27:08,020 --> 00:27:09,520 So there's that. 411 00:27:09,520 --> 00:27:15,040 It's a good example of LSP's work that we're doing on the ground with farmers. 412 00:27:15,040 --> 00:27:21,640 Boy, when it almost like sets the tone or sets the foundation for when there is some 413 00:27:21,640 --> 00:27:25,280 good policy that can be brought along can be the thing that kind of ignites that a little 414 00:27:25,280 --> 00:27:26,280 bit. 415 00:27:26,280 --> 00:27:27,280 Yeah, definitely. 416 00:27:27,280 --> 00:27:33,840 And I think that when I think about our electoral work and Land, Strait, and Action Fund's work, 417 00:27:33,840 --> 00:27:37,600 I think about where do we already have a base and presence? 418 00:27:37,600 --> 00:27:41,820 Where are people already organizing and where do we have leaders trying new things, having 419 00:27:41,820 --> 00:27:44,600 these conversations that we can leverage to? 420 00:27:44,600 --> 00:27:50,540 It's not Land, Strait, and Action Fund's role to just go into key districts and try and 421 00:27:50,540 --> 00:27:55,320 flip a seat or switch who's in office because, I don't know, it's a target area. 422 00:27:55,320 --> 00:27:59,600 But where do we already have people who are organizing and who have these innovative ideas? 423 00:27:59,600 --> 00:28:03,680 I think Fillmore County is a great example of that too, that we have amazing leaders 424 00:28:03,680 --> 00:28:09,120 who have been trying out different practices and who have been organizing and in this work 425 00:28:09,120 --> 00:28:12,600 for a long time, similarly to Olmstead. 426 00:28:12,600 --> 00:28:17,520 And so I like to think about where are people already doing this work, such as Western Minnesota, 427 00:28:17,520 --> 00:28:21,740 where they're doing the work around local foods and creating this food hub and how do 428 00:28:21,740 --> 00:28:28,000 we then bring that conversation into the levels of government as well and changing what the 429 00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:29,680 local elected are working on. 430 00:28:29,680 --> 00:28:34,600 So what are the challenges that folks face in getting involved with their local government, 431 00:28:34,600 --> 00:28:40,600 either running for office or just having some kind of influence on who's kind of involved 432 00:28:40,600 --> 00:28:43,080 with the local government on the local level? 433 00:28:43,080 --> 00:28:44,080 Yeah. 434 00:28:44,080 --> 00:28:48,960 There are a few ways that there are challenges or that people struggle with this or face 435 00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:49,960 challenges. 436 00:28:49,960 --> 00:28:51,280 One, there's the accessibility. 437 00:28:51,280 --> 00:28:55,180 I think that people don't often know when their county board is meeting. 438 00:28:55,180 --> 00:28:59,240 They don't know, definitely don't often know when their township board is meeting, when 439 00:28:59,240 --> 00:29:01,880 the soil water conservation districts are meeting. 440 00:29:01,880 --> 00:29:06,520 That information, you know, counties are bigger, so they tend to have websites and a lot of 441 00:29:06,520 --> 00:29:11,000 minutes are posted on their board meetings, but a lot of townships don't have websites 442 00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:15,880 and there's no way for people to know what's on the agenda, what was talked about, when 443 00:29:15,880 --> 00:29:17,320 the meeting is going to be. 444 00:29:17,320 --> 00:29:21,400 They can reach out to maybe the township clerk and they get that information, but there is 445 00:29:21,400 --> 00:29:25,760 an accessibility piece in just understanding when the meetings are happening, that they 446 00:29:25,760 --> 00:29:29,260 are open to the public, what's going to be on the agenda. 447 00:29:29,260 --> 00:29:32,440 Maybe there's something on the agenda that you really care about, but you had no idea 448 00:29:32,440 --> 00:29:33,900 they were making a decision on. 449 00:29:33,900 --> 00:29:37,440 So I think there's that piece too of just the accessibility. 450 00:29:37,440 --> 00:29:38,440 There's also the timing. 451 00:29:38,440 --> 00:29:42,280 You know, I remember talking to one of our members in Olmstead County who, she serves 452 00:29:42,280 --> 00:29:47,360 on the Township Planning and Zoning Commission, and they had to change their meeting times 453 00:29:47,360 --> 00:29:49,560 because they were all during the day. 454 00:29:49,560 --> 00:29:53,840 And you know, people who are younger, who maybe are working, or are tired I should say, 455 00:29:53,840 --> 00:29:56,200 who are working nine to five jobs, can't do that. 456 00:29:56,200 --> 00:29:59,440 But then, you know, then if it's in the evening, people who have kids struggle with it too. 457 00:29:59,440 --> 00:30:03,280 So there's really, I mean, all that to say there is no perfect time, right? 458 00:30:03,280 --> 00:30:04,280 What if we had virtual options? 459 00:30:04,280 --> 00:30:07,800 You know, so I think there's a timing and an accessibility piece. 460 00:30:07,800 --> 00:30:13,480 I think that there's also just that political education of what do these levels of government 461 00:30:13,480 --> 00:30:16,720 do or have the decision-making power over? 462 00:30:16,720 --> 00:30:20,680 You know, people might not want to think about going to their township meeting because they're 463 00:30:20,680 --> 00:30:22,720 like, well, roads and bridges, right? 464 00:30:22,720 --> 00:30:26,600 But there is so much more that they can be talking about and deciding on that you would 465 00:30:26,600 --> 00:30:28,060 want to have a say in too. 466 00:30:28,060 --> 00:30:33,480 So I think just that political education and once we get people connecting their lived, 467 00:30:33,480 --> 00:30:38,560 their daily life, their lived experiences to the decisions that local government is 468 00:30:38,560 --> 00:30:44,280 making, even if that's about roads or bridges or stoplights or, you know, traffic, that 469 00:30:44,280 --> 00:30:47,520 is still something that they are dealing with on a daily basis. 470 00:30:47,520 --> 00:30:52,520 And we can get them motivated and mobilized to engage with these local electeds as well. 471 00:30:52,520 --> 00:30:56,280 So there's that political education piece that I really have a lot of interest and passion 472 00:30:56,280 --> 00:30:58,040 around expanding. 473 00:30:58,040 --> 00:31:02,600 And then I think when you mentioned kind of challenges and running for local office is, 474 00:31:02,600 --> 00:31:07,600 you know, I like to say that local elections are, yes, they're less partisan and therefore 475 00:31:07,600 --> 00:31:12,960 less political in some ways, but they're also more political in some ways too, right? 476 00:31:12,960 --> 00:31:18,440 Because you know, maybe your county commissioner or your SWCD supervisor, they're your neighbor. 477 00:31:18,440 --> 00:31:23,000 You go to church with them or you like, you know, maybe you're related to them too. 478 00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:24,000 There are so many ways that you- 479 00:31:24,000 --> 00:31:26,000 They run the only repair shop in town. 480 00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:27,000 Yeah, exactly. 481 00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:28,000 You don't know. 482 00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:29,280 Like, they're your hey guy. 483 00:31:29,280 --> 00:31:34,840 First of all, I know Pam, my coworker on the policy team has talked about her hey guy. 484 00:31:34,840 --> 00:31:40,600 And so you inherently are just more likely to be connected to these folks in a personal 485 00:31:40,600 --> 00:31:41,600 way, right? 486 00:31:41,600 --> 00:31:45,800 You know, I remember talking to a member who's been a member for a long time, really active, 487 00:31:45,800 --> 00:31:47,560 outspoken, engaged. 488 00:31:47,560 --> 00:31:49,280 She's down in Southeast Minnesota as well. 489 00:31:49,280 --> 00:31:52,280 And she had thought about running, I think it was for her township board at one point. 490 00:31:52,280 --> 00:31:53,840 And I asked her, I was like, well, why didn't you? 491 00:31:53,840 --> 00:31:56,920 And she was like, honestly, I was scared. 492 00:31:56,920 --> 00:31:58,840 And this is someone who I'm like, you're scared? 493 00:31:58,840 --> 00:32:02,440 Like, I can't believe that you are having fear around this. 494 00:32:02,440 --> 00:32:04,080 But it does make sense, right? 495 00:32:04,080 --> 00:32:08,080 Because when these are your neighbors and people that like your daily life depends on 496 00:32:08,080 --> 00:32:13,240 in some ways, and you decide to challenge them or their friend or somebody else on the 497 00:32:13,240 --> 00:32:16,600 board, that it could rock boats. 498 00:32:16,600 --> 00:32:18,240 And I think people get really worried. 499 00:32:18,240 --> 00:32:23,000 It's one thing to rock a boat at a state house level or a state level, because that's kind 500 00:32:23,000 --> 00:32:24,320 of the nature of politics. 501 00:32:24,320 --> 00:32:29,200 But when it becomes so personal at a local level, it almost becomes more political. 502 00:32:29,200 --> 00:32:36,280 And it's hard for people, I think, to take that step when they're worried about the waves 503 00:32:36,280 --> 00:32:37,520 it might cause. 504 00:32:37,520 --> 00:32:42,240 It takes continually asking people, and it takes examples of how we can do this, especially 505 00:32:42,240 --> 00:32:43,240 in rural communities. 506 00:32:43,240 --> 00:32:49,960 I don't think people have many examples of how we've changed local power dynamics. 507 00:32:49,960 --> 00:32:55,960 A lot of people on township boards, county boards, and SWCD boards have been in those 508 00:32:55,960 --> 00:32:59,820 seats or on those boards in those seats for a long time. 509 00:32:59,820 --> 00:33:02,120 And people are like, well, that person's just there. 510 00:33:02,120 --> 00:33:04,980 So they don't even know how you change that. 511 00:33:04,980 --> 00:33:11,040 So what we're trying to do is create some models and examples for how you change elected 512 00:33:11,040 --> 00:33:12,680 officials at a local level. 513 00:33:12,680 --> 00:33:17,880 And what I would love to see is multiple people running for each of these seats, because they're 514 00:33:17,880 --> 00:33:19,220 important. 515 00:33:19,220 --> 00:33:23,960 We had a session earlier this year about SWCDs and why they're important, why the elected 516 00:33:23,960 --> 00:33:25,160 officials are important. 517 00:33:25,160 --> 00:33:31,760 And we had a couple people who are current SWCD supervisors as panelists on it. 518 00:33:31,760 --> 00:33:36,840 And one of them, his name's Greg, and he's up in kind of western, west central Minnesota. 519 00:33:36,840 --> 00:33:39,040 And he was like, challenge me. 520 00:33:39,040 --> 00:33:43,800 Yes, I like being a soil water conservation district supervisor, but what I wouldn't love 521 00:33:43,800 --> 00:33:48,120 to be to not be in an uncontested race in two years. 522 00:33:48,120 --> 00:33:49,560 Because these are important seats. 523 00:33:49,560 --> 00:33:51,580 They have a lot that they can do. 524 00:33:51,580 --> 00:33:53,520 And so more people should be running for these. 525 00:33:53,520 --> 00:33:58,120 So I think that the more we can just kind of show examples of that and get people connected 526 00:33:58,120 --> 00:33:59,640 to why they're important. 527 00:33:59,640 --> 00:34:05,740 I do think that SWCD is maybe an easier in than county board, for example, because it 528 00:34:05,740 --> 00:34:10,880 is very focused on soil water, as opposed to all of the various things that a county 529 00:34:10,880 --> 00:34:12,640 board might have to be looking at. 530 00:34:12,640 --> 00:34:17,760 So that's kind of finding those entry points, asking people repeatedly, showing them the 531 00:34:17,760 --> 00:34:22,700 connections, and just giving examples to and highlighting how this can be done. 532 00:34:22,700 --> 00:34:26,740 So how do we make someone feel so connected to the decisions happening? 533 00:34:26,740 --> 00:34:30,720 Because those decisions are connected to them, they just might not always see that connection 534 00:34:30,720 --> 00:34:31,720 right away. 535 00:34:31,720 --> 00:34:34,460 So yeah, so I think it's really about drawing those parallels. 536 00:34:34,460 --> 00:34:38,880 A lot of the political education, as I mentioned before, awareness of when these boards are 537 00:34:38,880 --> 00:34:39,880 meeting. 538 00:34:39,880 --> 00:34:43,720 So maybe you decided not to run this year, but what if you started attending SWCD meetings 539 00:34:43,720 --> 00:34:49,040 or going to events, meeting with your supervisor, and understanding what they're doing in that 540 00:34:49,040 --> 00:34:50,040 role. 541 00:34:50,040 --> 00:34:54,720 I think that any and all of that that LSAS can be doing this year and moving forward 542 00:34:54,720 --> 00:34:58,200 is just going to encourage more people to see themselves in these roles. 543 00:34:58,200 --> 00:35:04,120 Because I think at the end of the day, regardless of if it's township or federal level, we don't 544 00:35:04,120 --> 00:35:06,120 see ourselves as elected officials. 545 00:35:06,120 --> 00:35:10,440 We often don't see ourselves as political leaders, but we are. 546 00:35:10,440 --> 00:35:15,960 So I guess going forward here, what's the Landscape Action Fund looking at to try to 547 00:35:15,960 --> 00:35:20,620 help make it possible for folks to have that positive influence in their local decision 548 00:35:20,620 --> 00:35:21,620 making bodies? 549 00:35:21,620 --> 00:35:23,520 I mean, what are some of the things you have planned? 550 00:35:23,520 --> 00:35:25,600 What are some of the conversations you've been having? 551 00:35:25,600 --> 00:35:27,040 And what are you looking at? 552 00:35:27,040 --> 00:35:33,240 Yeah, so what we have planned this year is we have a few different overarching ways that 553 00:35:33,240 --> 00:35:34,360 we're going to be working. 554 00:35:34,360 --> 00:35:38,420 And one of them is really leaning into relational organizing, because especially when it comes 555 00:35:38,420 --> 00:35:41,240 to local elections, relationships matter. 556 00:35:41,240 --> 00:35:47,000 And they matter the most in influencing people and how they decide to act or engage in an 557 00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:48,000 election. 558 00:35:48,000 --> 00:35:51,320 So really focusing on getting our folks to be those messengers, to engage with their 559 00:35:51,320 --> 00:35:52,480 community. 560 00:35:52,480 --> 00:35:54,560 We want to do leadership development work too. 561 00:35:54,560 --> 00:35:59,880 And that is leadership with the candidates themselves, encouraging people in our base 562 00:35:59,880 --> 00:36:01,120 to run. 563 00:36:01,120 --> 00:36:06,600 It's leadership development in people stepping up to plan community events, engage with their 564 00:36:06,600 --> 00:36:09,640 neighbors, bring folks together, create more community. 565 00:36:09,640 --> 00:36:11,480 We are doing candidate endorsements this year. 566 00:36:11,480 --> 00:36:15,720 We'll be looking at the different Soil Water Conservation District candidates around the 567 00:36:15,720 --> 00:36:20,320 state, specifically in some target areas, and having community events where we bring 568 00:36:20,320 --> 00:36:24,800 our base together, not just our members, but those who align with our values and engage 569 00:36:24,800 --> 00:36:27,040 with these candidates and have a conversation. 570 00:36:27,040 --> 00:36:31,800 And they can actually give their input of, here's what I heard, here's what I think, 571 00:36:31,800 --> 00:36:37,640 here's who I think will work with me as a constituent and with my values with Land Stewardship 572 00:36:37,640 --> 00:36:39,920 Project moving forward. 573 00:36:39,920 --> 00:36:44,800 So doing those endorsements and giving people that power and autonomy to have a say in their 574 00:36:44,800 --> 00:36:45,800 election. 575 00:36:45,800 --> 00:36:49,160 And then we're looking just to do a lot of communications and spreading the word about 576 00:36:49,160 --> 00:36:53,640 the importance of county and township and Soil Water Conservation District. 577 00:36:53,640 --> 00:36:57,640 So I know I mentioned this already, but political education is huge for me. 578 00:36:57,640 --> 00:37:02,360 And I think, especially when it comes to these local levels, is who's on your board right 579 00:37:02,360 --> 00:37:03,360 now? 580 00:37:03,360 --> 00:37:08,600 Maybe all the races this year are uncontested, but can you meet with those folks then? 581 00:37:08,600 --> 00:37:13,200 There's nobody running against them, but get coffee with your supervisor and talk to them 582 00:37:13,200 --> 00:37:20,000 about why they got into this, what you are worried about, your main concerns, your values. 583 00:37:20,000 --> 00:37:24,460 Attend meetings just to kind of understand what that looks like too. 584 00:37:24,460 --> 00:37:28,040 Be there, be a presence and talk with others about this as well. 585 00:37:28,040 --> 00:37:33,380 And then doing everything that I can do to spread information about what these levels 586 00:37:33,380 --> 00:37:36,320 of government and these bodies of government do. 587 00:37:36,320 --> 00:37:40,920 What they have the ability to do, what they have decision making power over, I think is 588 00:37:40,920 --> 00:37:43,960 going to be really big to draw those connections like we were just saying. 589 00:37:43,960 --> 00:37:47,560 But I want people to feel connected to local elections and I want them to feel exciting. 590 00:37:47,560 --> 00:37:52,240 I think that community is missing in electoral politics in general. 591 00:37:52,240 --> 00:37:56,840 We see that at every level of elections, that people don't feel connected to community, 592 00:37:56,840 --> 00:37:58,880 especially when you're in rural spaces. 593 00:37:58,880 --> 00:38:00,600 You can often feel isolated. 594 00:38:00,600 --> 00:38:02,260 So bringing people together. 595 00:38:02,260 --> 00:38:07,120 And I am so excited because this summer we will be doing in-person events, whether they're 596 00:38:07,120 --> 00:38:11,680 larger events or just coffees with a few people at a coffee shop with a candidate. 597 00:38:11,680 --> 00:38:15,160 We're going to be in-person and we're going to be in community and having fun and bringing 598 00:38:15,160 --> 00:38:19,660 people together because politics and local decision making should be fun. 599 00:38:19,660 --> 00:38:23,640 It's about impacting our lives, bettering them for ourselves, for our neighbors, for 600 00:38:23,640 --> 00:38:24,640 future generations. 601 00:38:24,640 --> 00:38:29,080 And yeah, I'm excited to bring some more fun back into that and put the community kind 602 00:38:29,080 --> 00:38:41,760 of back into that organizing as well. 603 00:38:41,760 --> 00:38:46,300 For more on the Land Stewardship Action Fund and how to get involved, see the podcast page 604 00:38:46,300 --> 00:38:52,440 for Ear to the Ground episode 341 at LandStewardshipProject.org. 605 00:38:52,440 --> 00:38:57,060 If you have comments or suggestions about this podcast, contact Brian DeVore at bdevor 606 00:38:57,060 --> 00:39:04,560 at LandStewardshipProject.org or you can call 612-816-9342. 607 00:39:04,560 --> 00:39:08,740 By the way, it helps us greatly if you can give Ear to the Ground a rating on whatever 608 00:39:08,740 --> 00:39:11,560 podcast platform you utilize. 609 00:39:11,560 --> 00:39:14,720 And word of mouth is the best way to spread the news about our podcast. 610 00:39:14,720 --> 00:39:20,720 If you like what you hear, tell at least one person about LSP's Ear to the Ground. 611 00:39:20,720 --> 00:39:26,080 Thanks to Lola Borgendale, a Western Minnesota musician, for Ear to the Ground's theme music. 612 00:39:26,080 --> 00:39:30,600 And a special thank you to all of Land Stewardship Project's members who make initiatives such 613 00:39:30,600 --> 00:39:32,620 as this podcast possible. 614 00:39:32,620 --> 00:39:39,200 If you're not a member, visit LandStewardshipProject.org to learn how you can support LSP. 615 00:39:39,200 --> 00:39:50,000 Thanks for listening.