Leopold Center - In the news

Leopold Center in the News

The Future of Agriculture	Cooking Up A Story, a blog devoted to people, food and sustainable living, discussed agriculture, oil supplies and climate change with Leopold Center Distinguished Fellow Fred Kirschenmann while he was in Oregon for a conference. February 2009
Giving Thanks at Thanksgiving	Linking holiday traditions to local food provides an added dimension, Leopold Center Communication Specialist Laura Miller writes on the ReGeneration blog, project of the Dell Corporation. With photos by Leopold Center Director Jerry DeWitt. November 2008
Food Storage as Grandma Knew It	New York Times reporter Michael Tortorella interviewed Associate Director Rich Pirog for a about consumers' reactions to high food prices after he came across a nationwide survey conducted by Pirog. The story notes an increased interest in home canning and food preservation. November 5, 2008
Menu for the next Prez	New York chef Dan Barber interviews Distinguished Fellow Fred Kirschenmann on what's needed in food policy for the next administration, published by the Grist environmental webzine. October 2008
Regeneration Road Trip: Buffers and Biomass for Bear Creek	The Leopold Center hosted two bloggers at the Bear Creek buffer in Story County who were on a cross country trip to learn about "green" innovations as part of the ReGeneration Project. Read their blog and watch a video. October 2008
What's in a Number? How the press got the idea that food travels 1,500 miles from farm to plate	Washington Post food writer Jane Black talks about the 1,500-mile figure often used in talking about how far food travels from the farm to consumers. Leopold Center Associate Director Rich Pirog explains the figure used in his 2001 food miles report. Slate, September 17, 2008
The Delicious Revolution	O magazine features the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture (which shares an appointment with Fred Kirschenmann) in a story about sustainable eating. The Leopold Center is cited in the "Eating Green" field guide as is Iowa organic livestock producer Wende Elliott. September 2008
The Plenty 20	Leopold Center Distinguished Fellow Fred Kirschenmann was selected as one of the 20 "most dynamic individuals dedicated to greening the planet" by a nationwide lifestyle magazine. Read about all of them in the October/November 2008 issue of Plenty magazine.
9 Great Places You've Never Heard Of	Mother Earth News selects Ames, Iowa as one of its third annual list of top towns that demonstrate civic energy and sustainability in action, with a mention about the Leopold Center. August/September 2008
Downsize your footprint	Leopold Center associate director Rich Pirog talks about the concept of food miles in this report in the Kansas City Star about the local food phenomenon. July 29, 2008
Flooded Midwest farmlands may take decades to recover	Leopold Center director Jerry DeWitt narrates a slide show of 11 photos he took in northeast Iowa that show the effects of the flood in crop fields. The slide show is featured on the PBS Online NewsHour web site. June 30, 2008
Weather Watch	Leopold Center Distinguished Fellow Fred Kirschenmann assesses the potential effects of climate change on farming and ways to ensure adequate food supplies in the future in an essay published by Food Arts magazine. June 2008
Midwest's levees, land use questioned amid floods	PBS Online NewsHour correspondent Elizabeth Brackett interviews Leopold Center director Jerry DeWitt in Iowa City about the need to change policies, farming practices help deal with flooding. June 23, 2008. Watch the report.
Iowa flooding could be an act of man, experts say	Washington Post reporter Joel Achenbach interviews Leopold Center director Jerry DeWitt, Ecology Initiative leader Jeri Neal and advisory board member Lyle Asell in his June 19 report about the causes of floods in Iowa. June 2008
Greener Pastures: How family farmers are planting for a sustainable future	U.S. Catholic Assistant Editor Megan Sweas writes about efforts to safeguard America's family farms. She interviews Leopold Center Distinguished Fellow Fred Kirschenmann and Iowa CSA farmer Gary Guthrie. May 2008
At the root of "green" is the life of the soil	Food Sleuth Melinda Hemmelgarn writes about Leopold Center Distinguished Fellow Fred Kirschenmann's William A. Albrecht Earth Day Lecture at the University of Missouri. Hemmelgarn is a W.K. Kellogg Food and Society Fellow; her column was published May 7, 2008 in the Columbia Tribune.
Hole in the Middle: To make local food more accessible, time to revive mid-sized farms	Grist writer Tom Philpott outlines the need to support the "disappearing middle" in U.S. agriculture. The Leopold Center has been working with the Agriculture of the Middle (AOTM) project to do just that. April 2008
King Corn - Discussing Iowa Agriculture Today	Leopold Center Distinguished Fellow Fred Kirschenmann is a guest on Iowa Public Television's Iowa Journal to talk about what's happened since the documentary, King Corn, was filmed in Iowa in 2004. The program aired April 22, 2008.
Smart Science: What is a food mile?	Forecast Earth, a weekly program produced by The Weather Channel, explains the science behind food miles (weighted average source distance) in a segment that aired beginning March 17, 2008. Heidi Cullen, the program's climate expert, quotes work done by the Leopold Center. Listen to the 4-minute clip
The Carbon Cost From Farm to Fork [PDF]	Newsweek magazine reporter Tony Dokoupil writes about the local foods movement and that more than food miles matter when it comes to a food's carbon footprint. He interviews Associate Director Rich Pirog for the story. March 17, 2008
Meeting agriculture's challenges in a rapidly changing world	Watch an hour-long presentation on the Washington State Public Affairs TV Network by Leopold Center Distinguished Fellow Fred Kirschenmann at the 2007 Focus on Farming conference in Lynnwood, Washington (streaming video), November 2007
Do food miles make a difference to global warming?	Reuters News Service Environment Correspondent Deborah Zabarenko reports on the U.S. local food movement and its relationship, if any, to environmental impacts. She interviews Leopold Center Associate Director Rich Pirog for her story. October 2007
The politics of local purchasing: The path food takes from farm to plate leads to fresh environmental debate [PDF]	Restaurant News writer Elisa Elan reports how foodservice companies are embracing the notion of purchasing local foods, and how they're trying to do it. She interviews Leopold Center Associate Director Rich Pirog about the need to look at the entire food supply chain and its carbon footprint. October 2007
Eating fossil fuels: An unsustainable equation	Leopold Center Distinguished Fellow Fred Kirschenmann comments in the October 2007 issue of Delicious Living magazine. He also tells the story about "the power of ducks" to describe the biological synergies that will be required of our food production systems of the future. October 2007
Do food miles make a difference to global warming?	Deborah Zabarenko, environmental correspondent for Reuters News Service, speaks with Leopold Center associate director Rich Pirog about the local food movement and whether food miles are an accurate gauge of environmental impact and greenhouse gas emissions. October 2007
Farming, food and the season of resurrection	Distinguished Fellow Fred Kirschenmann tells how America lost touch with its food source—the farm—and looks at the resurrection taking place on farms across the land. Clip from the April 7, 2007 edition of American Public Media's The Splendid Table hosted by Lynne Rossetto Kasper. April 2007
The Local Multiplier Effect	Yes! magazine devotes its Winter 2007 issue to the benefits of going local -- from food to investments to powering up. One chart explores the impact of locally-earned dollars on the economy, and quotes the Leopold Center's work on food miles. Winter 2007.
A Buzz Saw of Buzzwords [PDF]	The New York Times looks at the top new phrases for 2006, including "food miles," a small phrase that packs a big punch. December 2006.
Our Mood in Food [PDF]	Jill Wendholt Silva and Lauren Chapin write in the Kansas City Star about the politics of dining and the top 10 food issues of 2006, including more interest in local foods. December 2006.
Ten trends to watch in packaged goods in 2007 [PDF]	The staff of Business Review Online lists local foods as one of the top food trends to watch in 2007. November 2006.
Emerging Food Values: Beginning of the End of Just Eat It? [PDF]	Forum, a trade publication of the Grocery Manufacturers' Association based in Washington, D.C., interviewed Leopold Center Distinguished Fellow Fred Kirschenmann about his ideas on "new food values." The article appeared in their mid-fall 2006 issue.
Transitioning from industrial energy-intensive agriculture to a system based on biological synergies [PDF]	Arty Mangan, who directs the Food Farming program for Bioneers, interviewed Leopold Center Distinguished Fellow Fred Kirschenmann for his "Wisdom at the End of a Hoe" series. June 2006.
Miles to Go Before You Eat	Sierra Club columnist Paul Rauber looks into why it pays to buy locally grown food, especially when gas is more than $3 a gallon. His column is in the May/June 2006 issue of Sierra magazine.
Free weed-control service: Mice	Darcy Maulsby, writing for Rodale's New Farm web site, explores a Leopold Center research grant that has grown into a national research project, all focused on the role that nature's "little hammers" can play in weed management. March 2006.
The Case of Woodbury County [PDF]	The Leopold Center's work to support local food efforts in northwest Iowa are featured in Food & Society Update, a monthly newsletter o the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. January 2006.
Stuck in the Middle [PDF]	New York chef Dan Barber writes about the Agriculture in the Middle project and the declining number of midsized farms in a Thanksgiving op-ed piece for the New York Times. November 2005.
Fueling a fire [PDF]	The trade publication Food Systems Insider talks with Rich Pirog at the Leopold Center about the impact of high fuel prices on our food system. November 2005.
How far does your onion travel? [PDF]	Syndicated columnist Froma Harrop writes about the Leopold Center's "food miles" report in light of rising oil prices, September 2005.
Bumper crops [PDF]	Supermarket News reports on the growing number of farmers markets and the demand for local foods, September 2005.
MBAs in the Field (Literally) [PDF]	ISU graduate students working with the Value Chains Partnership project led by the Leopold Center are featured in Food & Society Update, a monthly newsletter of W.K. Kellogg Foundation. August 2005.
A 'potential gold mind': Switchgrass could be the Midwest's next big energy source [PDF]	John Sellers, Jr., who leads the Leopold Center's grassland agriculture program, is profiled by High Plains Journal writer Jeff Caldwell in the August 22, 2005 issue.
Little Big Cheese: Maytag's Growing Niche Market	National Public Radio's Greg Allen reports that a good example of place-based foods can be found in Newton, Iowa, the home of Maytag cheese. He also talked with the Leopold Center's Rich Pirog about the connection that people want with their food. January 4, 2005.
Saving the family farm, organically	Thane Peterson interviewed Leopold Center director Fred Kirschenmann for his BusinessWeek Online story about the solution to "get big or get out" demise of family farms. January 21, 2004.
Local foods could make for greener grocers	Science News senior editor Janet Raloff writes about the Leopold Center's "food miles" work in her Food for Thought column in the Aug. 2, 2003 issue of Science News online.