Leopold Center funds 19 grants for new 2010 projects

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February 24, 2010

AMES, Iowa -- The Leopold Center has awarded grants for 19 new projects covering a wide range of activities to help farmers take advantage of new opportunities related to local foods and renewable energy, and encourage a transition to alternative systems that protect the environment while using fewer outside inputs.

These projects will receive $468,686 for their first year of work, and were selected in a competitive process that began last summer. Grants for nine of the new projects are for one year, seven projects will run two years, and three grants are for three years.

The Center also has renewed or is in the process of renewing 25 grants for multi-year projects already in progress. These projects, and the new work that will begin in 2010, bring the total amount of current grant-funded research at the Leopold Center to about $1,050,000.

“We are pleased to be able to offer grants for these projects, which will address many of the challenges that Iowa farmers are facing,” said Leopold Center Director Jerry DeWitt.

He said all projects were evaluated on their potential to provide economic sustainability for farmers, conserve Iowa’s soil and water resources, contribute to the social fabric of Iowa’s rural communities, work with partners, and build on the Center’s work in its three initiatives.

New work in marketing
The 2010 grants include 10 new projects in the Marketing and Food Systems Initiative. Topics range from transportation needs within Iowa’s “foodsheds” and food safety training for growers, to improving veterinary care for organic livestock producers and creation of a new working group to focus on food access and health issues. Another project will look at the feasibility of forming a specialty food cooperative for northwest Iowa farmers. In northeast Iowa, a grant will fund evaluation of the impact of regional food system efforts over the past 10 years on farmers in Black Hawk and surrounding counties.

“This new set of projects tackles key challenges that prevent Iowa farmers from taking advantage of new market opportunities,” said Rich Pirog, associate director and leader of the Leopold Center’s Marketing and Food Systems Initiative.

Pirog said lack of efficiency in production processes often poses challenges for growers interested in scaling up their operations. A two-year grant will look at some of those issues related to transplant production systems, already used by large-scale vegetable growers in the upper Midwest. Pirog said the goal of the project is to develop an on-line tool to help growers make appropriate investments in systems that will grow and adapt as market opportunities develop.

New work in ecology
Six new grants are part of the Center’s Ecology Initiative that focuses on innovative ways to create diversified farming systems in Iowa. Topics range from extended crop and biomass rotations to the interaction between buffers and field tile drainage.

Three projects will focus on grazing systems, including a two-year experiment on “mob grazing” by Iowa State animal science professor Jim Russell. At the Whiterock Conservancy in central Iowa, forage quality data will be collected on restored natural grasslands as part of a project to optimize grazing as a restoration management tool. The third grazing project, which includes a carbon “snapshot’ of grazing lands, relates to previously supported research by Iowa State’s Patch-Burn Grazing Team that works in southern Iowa.

“We hope to be able to immediately apply what we learn to actual farms”, said Jeri Neal, who leads the Ecology Initiative. “Our goal is to identify management and tools that are more productive and profitable yet provide the diversity and resilience needed to take better care of our soil and water resources.”

Other topics
The Policy Initiative will sponsor one new project, a study of feed-in tariffs, a policy mechanism that could boost renewable energy production on Iowa farms. The study will consider the impacts of such tariffs used in other parts of the country, and the impacts they could have on Iowa farmers and the utility companies that serve them.

Two new grants include elements from all three Leopold Center initiatives. A planning grant will be used to develop a strategy for increasing availability of farmland to beginning farmers and immigrant farmers, and possibly form a new Beginning Farmer Working Group. Researchers from Iowa State and the University of Iowa will work together to explore the interplay among climate shift and management practices as they apply to healthy soils and the development of sound agricultural policies.

For details about all new and active grants, go to the Leopold Center’s Current Grants page.

2010 NEW LEOPOLD CENTER COMPETITIVE GRANTS
STATEWIDE GRANTS

• Building a Food System Framework to Advance the Health of Iowans - A Blueprint for Action
• Engaging Community Planners with Local Food Systems Producers to Integrate Local Food Systems into Community Plans and Policies
• Experiential Educational Engagement with Working Groups and Communities of Practice
• Impacts of GAPs and Post-harvest Handling Practices Certificate Training on Producers’ On-Farm Food Safety Behaviors and Perceptions of Customer Assurance
• Improving Veterinary Care for Organic Livestock Producers
• Mapping Potential Foodsheds in Iowa: A System Optimization Modeling Approach
• Transplant Production Decision Tool for Vegetable Producers
• Transitioning the Pork Niche Market Working Group to Self-Sufficiency
• Renewable Energy Feed-In Tariffs: Potential Opportunities for Iowa’s Small Farmers
• Toward a New Homestead Act: Designing a Farmstead Transfer and Leasing Program for High-Value Farming and Farmstead Preservation

SITE-SPECIFIC GRANTS (see list following for counties where work will be done)

• Evaluating the Impact of Regional Food System Work on Growers
• From Farm to Market in Northwest Iowa
• Defining the Grazing Season of Restored Natural Grasslands
• Impacts of Conventional and Diversified Rotation Systems on Crop Yields, Profitability, Soil Functions and Environmental Quality
• Increasing Carbon Sequestration of Working Prairie by Reducing Invasive Species in a Fire and Grazing System
• Reconnecting Iowa Riparian Buffers with Tile Drainage
• Transitioning to Ecologically Functional Production Systems
• Use of Mob Grazing to Improve Cattle Production, Enhance Legume Establishment and Increase Carbon Sequestration in Iowa Pastures
• Exploring the Role of Multifunctional Agriculture on the Future of Agriculture and Rural Development

WORK SITES (BY COUNTY) FOR NEW LEOPOLD CENTER GRANTS
Some projects are conducted in several counties.

BENTON: Evaluating the Impact of Regional Food System Work on Growers

BLACK HAWK: Evaluating the Impact of Regional Food System Work on Growers

BOONE: Impacts of Conventional and Diversified Rotation Systems on Crop Yields, Profitability, Soil Functions and Environmental Quality; Transitioning to Ecologically Functional Production Systems

BREMER: Evaluating the Impact of Regional Food System Work on Growers

BUCHANAN: Evaluating the Impact of Regional Food System Work on Growers

BUENA VISTA: From Farm to Market in Northwest Iowa

BUTLER: Evaluating the Impact of Regional Food System Work on Growers

CLAY: From Farm to Market in Northwest Iowa

DICKINSON: From Farm to Market in Northwest Iowa

EMMET: From Farm to Market in Northwest Iowa

GRUNDY: Evaluating the Impact of Regional Food System Work on Growers

GUTHRIE: Defining the Grazing Season of Restored Natural Grasslands

IOWA: Exploring the Role of Multifunctional Agriculture on the Future of Agriculture and Rural Development

JOHNSON: Exploring the Role of Multifunctional Agriculture on the Future of Agriculture and Rural Development

O’BRIEN: From Farm to Market in Northwest Iowa

OSCEOLA: From Farm to Market in Northwest Iowa

PALO ALTO: From Farm to Market in Northwest Iowa

RINGGOLD: Increasing Carbon Sequestration of Working Prairie by Reducing Invasive Species in a Fire and Grazing System

STORY: Reconnecting Iowa Riparian Buffers with Tile Drainage; Use of Mob Grazing to Improve Cattle Production, Enhance Legume Establishment and Increase Carbon Sequestration in Iowa Pastures

TAMA: Evaluating the Impact of Regional Food System Work on Growers 

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The Leopold Center was established by the 1987 Iowa Groundwater Protection Act as a research and education center at Iowa State University to develop sustainable agricultural practices that are both profitable and conserve natural resources. Iowa State does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, sex, marital status, disability, or status as a U.S. Vietnam Era Veteran. Any persons having inquiries concerning this may contact the Director of Affirmative Action, 3210 Beardshear Hall, (515) 294-7612.

This page was found at http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/news/02-24-2010/leopold-center-funds-19-grants-new-2010-projects on 01/21/2013