Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture

July 21 Leopold Center seminar sheds light on environmental impacts of food systems

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July 7, 2008

AMES, Iowa -- Which has the least environmental impact: items grown organically in another country or the same item grown conventionally in the next county? How do grain versus grass-fed production systems for beef and dairy stack up?

A researcher from Canada who is developing scenarios that could help answer these difficult questions will be at Iowa State University on July 21.

The Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture will host Nathan Pelletier, a doctoral student at Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia. He will present, "A Life Cycle Perspective on Food System Sustainability: Lessons from the Field," at 3 p.m. in 2019 Morrill Hall on the ISU campus. Discussion will begin at 4 p.m.

Pelletier currently is working with the Leopold Center on a life cycle assessment (LCA) model for several beef production systems in Iowa. Pelletier has researched salmon and tilapia aquaculture systems, conventional and organic field crop production in Canada, and the U.S. poultry broiler industry. He also has done private sector consulting on LCA in other food systems.

In his presentation, Pelletier will explore the strengths and limitations of using Life Cycle Assessment to better understand and manage the material/energy flows and emission intensities in the food system.

For more information about the seminar, contact Leopold Center Associate Director Rich Pirog, (515) 294-1854, or rspirog@iastate.edu. 

For more info contact:

Rich Pirog, (515) 294-1854, rspirog@iastate.edu

Laura Miller, (515) 294-5272, lwmiller@iastate.edu

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