The Loni Kemp Papers solely document her professional career, thus the collection is arranged into four series that reflect the major organizations with which Kemp has been affiliated: THE MINNESOTA PROJECT, THE MINNESOTA INSTITUTE FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE (MISA), MIDWEST SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE WORKING GROUP (MSAWG), and THE NATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE (NCSA). Kemp was often present in the early days of these organizations, variously acting as a founding member, drafting bylaws, and serving on steering committees or on the board of directors. Due to her prominent involvement, records relating to these groups offer a high-level perspective on the organizations' structure and activities, as well as documenting the beginnings of the sustainable agriculture movement, both regionally and nationally.
Kemp organized her papers prior to donation and the collection arrived in boxes labeled by topic. Folder titles remain largely as the archives received them.
THE MINNESOTA PROJECT series, 1985-2007, includes two subseries: Subject Files and Grant Files.
Subject Files encompass the issues Kemp worked on during her tenure at the Minnesota Project, including the effect of farm chemicals on groundwater quality, reduction of pesticide use in the Great Lakes basin, whole farm planning, and the Conservation Security Program and its successor, the Conservation Stewardship Program, both of which provided “green payments,” or financial incentives for sustainable conservation practices. Established in 1995, the Great Lakes Basin Farm Planning Network used the concept of whole farm planning to encourage farmers to develop a comprehensive farm plan that would result in successful farm operations that also safeguarded the environment. Also included are records from the National Summit on Private Land Conservation in 1999, an event Kemp credits with launching the green payments/Conservation Security Act movement. The water quality files include records relating to case studies of how five statewide organizations in California, Nebraska, Iowa, and Texas dealt with the issue of farm chemicals and groundwater contamination, culminating in a report prepared for the Ford Foundation in 1988. Also relating to water quality are records of the Midwest Consortium on Groundwater and Farm Chemicals from 1988-1991. Additionally documented in this subseries are conferences, action on the 1995 and 2007 farm bills, a sustainable farming systems project, livestock feedlot regulation, and bills relating to sustainable agriculture. Many of these topics are interconnected, so a researcher may need to look under multiple subject files to find relevant information. Researchers will also find in these files occasional records relating to other organizations, such as the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (SAC), that also worked on these issues. Types of records include meeting minutes, correspondence, policy packets, working notes, news clippings, and reports.
Also included in the Subject Files subseries are records concerning the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, primarily consisting of materials from Kemp's 2002-2004 Food and Society Policy Fellowship, a program designed to develop communications strategies using mass media to promote positive changes to agriculture and food policy in the United States. The fellowship paid for part of Kemp's salary while she was working for the Minnesota Project. Since the major outcome of being a Fellow was to produce media pieces, the records include periodic updates and lists of articles and reports Kemp wrote. Also included are materials from annual Food and Society Conferences from 2003-2006.
Grant Files contain grant applications, supporting materials, correspondence, grant reports, project strategy and updates, meeting notes, and staff communications on grant details. Farm bill files contain press releases, letters to legislators, policy recommendations, printed email correspondence, working notes, newspaper clippings, and related articles, reports, and publications.
The MINNESOTA INSTITUTE FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE (MISA) series, 1987-2002, documents Kemp's involvement with MISA, a joint project of the University of Minnesota's College of Agriculture and the Sustainers Coalition. The Coalition was an association of non-profit agricultural organizations including the Institute for Agriculture and Food Policy, the Land Stewardship Project, the Minnesota Food Association, the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota, the Minnesota Project, and the Organic Growers and Buyers Association. MISA sought to facilitate communication between the university and farming communities, and to work together to promote sustainable agriculture. Kemp helped to create the organization's bylaws and served on the MISA board from 1992-1998. Earlier records include bylaws, meeting agendas and minutes, correspondence, reports, project proposals, and working papers. Later records (through 2002), relate to developments surrounding the resignation of executive director Don Wyse in 2000 and the future of sustainable agriculture at the University of Minnesota.
The MIDWEST SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE WORKING GROUP (MSAWG/SAWG) series, 1986-2008, includes records from meetings and annual gatherings of the organization, as well as its lobbying arm, the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (SAC). An association of thirty predominantly Midwestern farm, environmental, religious, and rural groups that joined forces in 1988 to advocate for sustainable agriculture issues in the 1990 farm bill, MSAWG was the precursor of four other regional sustainable agriculture working groups across the country. The early history of MSAWG is well documented and consists of planning documents, drafts of grant proposals and working papers, action alerts, finances, and a strategic planning workbook. General records include meeting minutes and notes, lists of participants, committee records, correspondence and memos, financial reports, grant proposals and other working papers, fact sheets and alerts, conference call agendas and notes, and related newspaper clippings. Although some MSAWG material is organized by working group and annual gathering meeting dates, other records are included in the meeting folders that pertain to smaller committee meetings and topics the group was working on in that general time frame, such as whole farm planning, the Clean Water Act, or conservation programs.
The NATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE (NCSA) series, 1992-2008, contains records of Board of Directors meetings from 2002-2007, records of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coordinating Council (NSACC) from 1992-1997, and documents relating to the Campaign's work on farm bills from 1994-1996. The actions taken by various groups working to advance sustainable agriculture on a national level are well documented, as well as the changes in organizational structure and coalition building over time. Included are meeting minutes and notes, correspondence, working notes, presentations, and news clippings. Also included for this period are fax alerts to Campaign supporters, urging action in the form of phone calls, letters or faxes to legislators on provisions in the farm bill, including letters to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Dan Glickman. Other activities documented in this series are various committees, annual meetings, national conferences, and work on specific issues such as the Conservation Reserve Program and water quality.
