Ecology Initiative

Our vision is of a "new generation" food and agricultural system that meets the challenges of the 21st century with more productive and profitable farms, ecologically resilient landscapes and healthy rural communities.

We support a wide range of research, demonstration and outreach anchored in the development and adoption of 'ecologically friendly' production systems. Our work generally falls in one of two categories: doing it better or doing it differently. We prefer to be where the two merge, where we do agriculture differently AND better. This is where we think sustainability begins to happen and this is the reason FOR the ideas of a "new generation." More about the initiative [PDF of powerpoint presentation/notes]

Outcomes of immediate interest

• Increased  use of LCSA and sustainable research -  Focus areas:
  • On-farm adoption/adaptation  of LCSA past and current research
  • Pairing LCSA and sustainably-focused research with on-the-ground and on-farm practices that put more living roots in the ground for more of the year (we have gaps in cover crops, agroforestry, buffers, grasses & forages and integrated crop-livestock)
  • Pairing LCSA and sustainability-focused research with on-the-ground and on-farm practices that increase levels of soil organic matter and manage water at the point of contact
     
• New research knowledge being generated that quantifies biological and ecological services being brought about by multi-year, multi-functional agricultural practices
   
• An innovative mode, tool or training is developed that will help Iowa farmers better manage the risk involved in adopting or changing to conservation practices*
  • *Conservation practices are practices primarily intended to increase biotic integrity and improve soil health, including crop-livestock integration. 
  • Project must go beyond design to at least minimal proof of concept.
     
• An innovative model, tool, practice or policy is developed or assessed for its capacity to encourage county-wide and/or watershed transitions to more biologically and socially diverse farms and working landscapes
  • Must give balanced consideration to ecological region, conservation practices* (see definition above), and agricultural economic opportunities.
  • Project must go beyond design to at least minimal proof of concept

Aldo Leopold's definition of conservation: "Our effort to understand and preserve the land's capacity for self-renewal."

Initiative leader: Jeri Neal, (515) 294-5610, wink@iastate.edu