Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture

News & Notes

Back to Leopold Letter Fall 2009

Documenting benefits from extended crop rotations

Longer crop rotations could result in fewer weed seeds, according to research recently published in the journal Weed Research. The research was supported by a grant from the Leopold Center Ecology Initiative, "Establishment of a field school for weed ecology and management." The project looked at multi-year cropping systems, two of which were low-external-input systems with longer rotations. Principal investigator was agronomist Matt Liebman, Henry A. Wallace Endowed Chair for Sustainable Agriculture.

Watch new "On the Ground with the Leopold Center" video

Summary of the project on the Leopold Center website

Iowa Farmer's Union honors DeWitt

Iowa Farmer’s Union presented its 2009 Friend of the Farmer Education Award to Leopold Center Director Jerry DeWitt during their annual state convention August 28-29 in Marshalltown. The award acknowledges DeWitt’s outstanding contribution of working with farmers to solve problems and move toward a sustainable agriculture.

Hungarian scientist looks at bioreactors

The technology that filters nitrates in runoff coming from Iowa’s tile-drained crop fields might help improve water quality in Hungary. At least that’s what an associate professor at the University of Pannonia hopes will happen. He recently contacted Alok Bhandari, ISU agricultural biosystems and engineering, who leads research funded by the Leopold Center Ecology Initiative on the design and effectiveness of denitrifying bioreactors. The Hungarian scientist wants to see whether bioreactors could prevent nitrate leaching into one of his country’s largest freshwater lakes from the site of a new golf course under construction.

About Leopold Center bioreator research [Summer 2009 newsletter]

Annual report gets top award

The Leopold Center’s FY2008 annual report, Water, received a top award among all annual reports entered in an annual competition conducted by the National Agricultural Alumni and Development Association (NAADA). Leopold Center Outreach and Policy Coordinator Mary Adams wrote and edited the report; Juls Design of Ankeny did the layout and design for the annual report. View report.

Center newsletter also recieves honors

The Leopold Center’s quarterly newsletter also was recognized by the Association for Communication Excellence in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Life and Human Sciences. The newsletter received a third-place award in the newsletter category of the group’s annual Critique & Awards program.

 

Back to Leopold Letter Fall 2009