Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture

Iowa Learning Farms' January Webinar: Farmer as Steward and Business Leader

Date: Wednesday, January 18th, 2012

Start: 11:30 am End: 12:15 pm

Location: Online webinar

Contact: John Lundvall, ILF field coordinator, 515-294-5429

The Iowa Learning Farms’ January webinar will feature Jacqueline Comito, an anthropologist with the Sociology Department at Iowa State University.

The webinar is part of a series, hosted by ILF, held on the third Wednesday of each month. The webinars are held over the noon hour through Adobe Connect. All that is needed to participate is a computer with Internet access. The topics discussed will be beneficial for technical service providers, watershed project coordinators, Extension specialists and anyone else interested in the topic of the month.

Comito will discuss the rationalization of two widely circulated aspects of a farmer’s public identity as articulated by corn and soybean farmers in Iowa: the farmer as a steward of the land and the farmer as a shrewd businessman.

Utilizing qualitative data from 28 listening sessions conducted by the Iowa Learning Farms between 2008-2011, Comito said one can examine how, through an analysis of “public” data, farmers maintain their identity as good stewards of the land even though their business identity has them implementing practices that may result in soil and water degradation. "If there is any hope in resolving this tension between economic and ecological challenges, farmers will need to take the long view and think about what kind of legacy they will leave," Comito said.

Related information

View this archived presentation

View other ILF webinars  www.extension.iastate.edu/ilf

About Iowa Learning Farms: ILF is a partnership between the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, Iowa State University Extension, Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Iowa Natural Resources Conservation Service, and Iowa Department of Natural Resources and the US EPA (section 319); in cooperation with Conservation Districts of Iowa and the Iowa Farm Bureau.