The Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture explores and cultivates alternatives that secure healthier people and landscapes in Iowa and the nation.
Frontpage Features Archive
Iowa lakes, a summer treasure
Iowa lakes truly are a treasure -- for the recreation they provide, as a source of water and wildlife habitat, and their many connections in our lives to commerce, communities and other generations. An Iowa Learning Farms film that explores our relationship with lakes recently received three awards from the Iowa Motion Picture Association. "Out to the Lakes" received Awards of Achievement in the documenary and educational production categories, and an Award of Excellence for the original music performed by the Ames group Joyful Hearts. The film presents a case study of Black Hawk Lake, Iowa's most southern glacial lake in west cemtral Iowa (Sac County). The Leopold Center is a partner in the Iowa Learning Farms program, designed to build a Culture of Conservation among Iowans. [Lake Okoboji photo by Lynn Betts]
More about 'Out to the Lakes' video [ILF website]
Watch film now [YouTube website]
Field day for Leopold Center Advisory Board
Members of the Leopold Center Advisory Board met June 6 at the Northeast Research Farm near Nashua. Part of the day's activities included a tour of the ISU research and demonstration farm, some of the Leopold Center's long-standing water quality field plots, and three denitrifying bioreactors from a more recent Leopold Center research project. The Conservation Station, Iowa Learning Farms' mobile teaching lab, also traveled to the farm so advisory board members could see the rainfall simulator (above) and conservation displays inside the lab. The Leopold Center has a special partnership with Iowa Learning Farms.
Front row: New Leopold Center director Mark Rasmussen; ISU professor Paul Lasley; Dan Frieberg of West Des Moines; and Dordt College professor John Olthoff.
Back row: Maury Wills, Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship; Doug Gronau of Vail; Jennifer Steffen of Birmingham; Susan Jutz of Solon; University of Northern Iowa professors Laura Jackson and Patrick Pease; Aaron Heley Lehman of Polk City; Drake University professor Keith Summerville; and ISU professor Maynard Hogberg. Gronau, Steffen, Jutz and Heley Lehman are farmers representing various organizations on the board.
First blush
Iowa gardeners often talk about roses as "the world’s most expensive annual” because of the care needed to survive northern winters. Can roses be sustainable in Iowa? An ongoing trial at the ISU Horticulture Research Station may offer answers. ISU is part of the Northern Earth-Kind® Rose Trials, a program developed by Texas A&M horticulture specialists for growing and evaluating landscape plants (initially roses) for performance with little or no inputs of water, fertilizers, pesticides and labor. Winners will be announced later this year. Many rose growers identify ISU with the durable rose hybrids developed by Dr. Griffith Buck.
About this photo: This rose adorns the terrace plantings on the east side of the ISU Food Sciences Building. Photo by Barb McBreen, ISU College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
News release [ISU Extension]
ISU Earth-Kind® Roses [ISU Extension]
Soaking up conservation
Ann Staudt, who coordinates the Conservation Station for Iowa Learning Farms, talks with second graders recently who visited Jim and Jody Kerns' farm in Clayton County. Staudt teaches about watersheds and the importance of good soil and water quality using the Conservation Dogs (in the picture she is holding; link goes to their website) and their interaction with natural resources. The students also learn about the importance of trees, and planted a tree in the Kerns' woods. Iowa Learning Farms is using a Leopold Center special grant to develop new educational materials. See where the Conservation Station will be this summer [ILF website]. Watch a YouTube video about this project.
Are healthy foods more expensive?
It depends on how you measure the price. A new USDA study compares prices of healthy and less-healthy foodsusing three different measures: the price per calorie, the price per unit of edible weight, and the price of an average portion. For all metrics except for the price of food energy, the authors find that healthy foods cost less than less healthy foods (defined in the study as foods that are high in saturated fat, added sugar and/or sodium, or that contribute little to meeting dietary recommendations). Learn more here
The Leopold Center also looked at food prices, only our study compared "local" and "conventionally sourced" foods. What do you think our 2009 project found? Check it out here
Corn-planting season
A farmer in Jasper County, Iowa plants corn in May 1940, shown in this historical photo commemorating the 150th anniversary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Wednesday, May 15 marks 150 years since President Abraham Lincoln signed into law an act of Congress that established the USDA, which he called "The People's Department." From conservation to food stamps, war rations and Smokey the Bear, check out USDA history here
View a collection of 1,167 historical USDA photos
Another important anniversary at the Leopold Center this year
Hoops galore!
The Ukrainian company Agro-Soyuz raises 160,000 feeder pigs to market weight in 225 hoop barns. When company owners Volodymyr Khorishko and his son Dmytro took over a former farm collective in 2004, they sought assistance from Iowa State University’s “Hoop Group” to set up the low-cost hooped buildings. The father-son duo returned to the United States for advice on their next phase: hoops for gestating sows and baby pigs. The Leopold Center supported the Hoop Group by providing an annual stipend for meetings and funds to conduct research between 1997 and 2002. The Center continues to be supportive of alternative livestock systems; a new project will explore the use of insulated tents (or yurts) for sows and pigs.
More about the Hoop Group More about the Iowa-Ukraine connection
Garden mural
Kristen Loria directs young artists (students at Kate Mitchell elementary school in Ames) about their part in painting the community garden mural behind her. The school is hosting a community day from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 5 to complete the mural. Loria is “the garden lady” and works with the school’s teachers, students and parents to incorporate learning activities at the Kate Mitchell Community Garden, now starting its second growing season. The Volunteer Center of Story County and Prairie Rivers RC&D has a small grant from the Leopold Center to expand the garden program to Sawyer Elementary School and Ames Middle School. Funds are from the state’s new Local Food and Farm Initiative (administered by the Leopold Center). More about the Kate Mitchell garden [VCSC website] More about this and other local food projects
Farming with families
Farmer Victoria Archer and her daughter Madison (both seated) listen to advice offered by author, speaker and direct-market guru Joel Salatin, owner of Polyface Farm in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. Salatin spoke about integrating multiple generations into the family farm and finding viable ways to farm full-time at an April 17 workshop hosted by Practical Farmers of Iowa at Tom and Mary Cory’s farm near Elkhart. Salatin said direct-market farmers need to know costs and time involved with various tasks and set “benchmarks of efficiency” so they can “think like business people not missionaries.” The Archers moved to Iowa from Phoenix and have a 20-acre pastured livestock operation near St. Charles. Video of Salatin’s visit will be available on the PFI website.
Happy Anniversary!
Iowa State's Graduate Program in Sustainable Agriculture (GPSA) celebrated its 10th anniversary during the program's annual research symposium and poster session April 11. Since 2001, ISU has awarded 56 master's degrees, 14 doctorates and 15 minors in the program, which currently has 58 active students. ISU Professor Emeritus John Pesek reviewed its many ties with other issues and organizations (such as the Leopold Center) at the event. Read the comments he prepared or listen to a podcast.
About this photo: These GPSA students researched how to add social justice work to the program. They are (from left, standing): John Dean and Diego Thompson Bello; (front) Claudia Prado-Meza, Jess Soulis and Nicholas Leete; and (back) Angie Carter and Victoria LeBeaux. All students complete several core courses as well as classes in their home departments across campus.
Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture |
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