Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture

Leopold Center's 'balanced, yet bold' year featured in 2006 report

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April 9, 2007

AMES, Iowa -- New and thriving research programs, major leadership changes, and significant progress by research initiatives marked the past fiscal year at the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, and are summarized in the Center's new annual report.

Balancing Change and Sustainability showcases the Center's long-term commitment to organic agriculture research conducted by Iowa State University, and the Center's continuing support of on-farm investigations carried out in cooperation with Practical Farmers of Iowa. The Center also collaborated on a critical ISU agroecology project and the state’s budding grape and wine program.

Fred Kirschenmann offers a look at his year as the Center’s first Distinguished Fellow --working closely with the Garst family to put west central Iowa’s Whiterock Conservancy on firm footing, providing guidance and assistance to the Agriculture of the Middle project, the Pew Commission on livestock agriculture, Silos and Smokestacks, and the nation’s other university-based sustainable agriculture centers.

The publication also reports on the exciting work done by the Center’s research initiatives, both their competitive grant research efforts and special projects in policy, ecology, and marketing and food systems. Among them are active working groups in food systems and value chains, ecology efforts with grassland agriculture and Green Lands Blue Waters, and policy projects collecting farmer opinions on the next Farm Bill. All three initiatives also have supported extensive education and outreach efforts on the ISU campus and around Iowa.

The Center’s FY2006 annual report is printed on Mohawk Via paper stock, which was manufactured entirely with nonpolluting wind-generated electricity and contains 30 percent recycled post-consumer fiber. In addition, the paper used in the report is certified by Green Seal, the nation's leading independent certification and verification program for renewable energy products. Environmental savings achieved by printing the report on Mohawk Via are calculated on the back cover, including trees not cut down, air emissions eliminated, energy not consumed, waterborne waste not generated, water/wastewater flow saved, and solid waste not generated. 

For more info contact:

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

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