Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture

Leopold Center welcomes three new board members

Back to Leopold Letter Spring 2009

The Leopold Center welcomes three new members to its advisory board, all of whom are well-acquainted with the Center’s work through the organizations they will represent on the board.

The new Iowa Department of Natural Resources representative is Bill Ehm, succeeding Lyle Asell, who had served on the board for more than a decade. Community supported agriculture (CSA) grower Susan Jutz is the new representative for Practical Farmers of Iowa, following northwest Iowa farmer Paul Mugge, who had served on the board since 1999 and in an ex officio capacity since 1996. John Sellers, Jr., of Corydon, returns as one of two farmers representing the State Soil Conservation Committee, a position previously held by Russ Brandes of Hancock.

Bill Ehm
Bill Ehm’s interest in the Leopold Center goes back more than 20 years to when he was still farming full-time in southern Iowa. It was 1989, and Ehm was named a member of the Iowa Environmental Protection Commission shortly after the passage of the Iowa Groundwater Protection Act that created the Leopold Center two years earlier.

“I had been a farmer for about 20 years and that’s also the time I became very interested in water quality and agriculture,” Ehm said. “I tried to farm in a sustainable fashion during my farming career. I have followed the Center since its creation and I believe that the Leopold Center can make a difference.”

Ehm spent more than a decade on the Iowa Environmental Protection Commission, and eventually left farming to work full-time with the state’s impaired waters program. He also served as director of the Soil Conservation Division of the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship.

In 2007, Ehm was appointed to a new position as water policy director for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Ehm is leading the effort that began in 2008 to create a strategy to better use Iowa’s water resources. The plan addresses water quality and quantity issues, from transportation and water-based recreation to flood plain management, water supplies, allocation and conservation policies.

Ehm said he thinks the Leopold Center needs to demonstrate “innovative and sustainable concepts for producers” as well as policies that can promote sustainability on the landscape.

“I am concerned that many of the current agricultural policies lead producers to make decisions based upon short-term goals. I bring real agricultural experience and a strong desire to improve our resources: soil, water, air plants and animals,” he said.

Ehm has a bachelor’s degree in agricultural business from Iowa State University and a MBA from Drake University. He is a member of the Soil and Water Conservation Society and the AM Rotary Club of Des Moines, and a former school board member. He and his wife Rose Ann continue to own a cash grain farm in Clinton County and a broiler chicken operation in Union County.

Susan Jutz
Susan Jutz owns and operates ZJ Farm and the Local Harvest CSA near Solon in eastern Iowa. On 80 acres she raises vegetables to supply a 250-member CSA enterprise, plus she direct-markets lambs from 40 ewes every year. She follows organic practices and uses rotational grazing for her livestock.

Jutz learned about the Leopold Center shortly after she moved to Iowa in 1994 and joined Practical Farmers of Iowa, which receives ongoing Center support for its on-farm research and demonstration program.
“The Leopold Center serves an important purpose in Iowa agriculture,” she said. “I believe that the Center’s primary role needs to be the support and promotion of creative thinking for agriculture that can lead to innovations desperately needed in Iowa.”

And she’s anxious to provide guidance to the Leopold Center. “My farming background spans my life,” she said. “I believe I can bring a farmer perspective to the advisory board that represents multiple viewpoints.”

Jutz is a past president of PFI, and has participated in on-farm research trials. She also is a member of the advisory board for the Henry A. Wallace Endowed Chair for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, and is actively involved in the development of local food networks for low-income and special needs families. She works with the Local Foods Connection, a private nonprofit group in Iowa City that is active in addressing local food issues.

Jutz has an undergraduate degree in psychology and sociology from the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minnesota; and a master’s in social work from the University of Minnesota. She has four sons, two of whom provide help with the CSA operation.

John Sellers, Jr.
John Sellers, Jr., is no stranger to the Leopold Center. He returns to the advisory board after a three-year absence when he served as a coordinator for the Leopold Center’s Grassland Agriculture Program from December 2004 to September 2008. The program was set up as a special project of the Center’s Ecology Initiative to provide one-on-one technical assistance for Iowa producers interested in grass-based agriculture and to better connect the Center with partners involved in this type of agriculture.

Sellers worked with more than 125 farmers and individuals returning to agriculture. However, rising land prices and surging interest in the production of corn-based ethanol made grassland agriculture a tough sell, especially in southern Iowa, where Sellers’ work was focused.

“It was frustrating because the timing was not right,” he said. “There was no way that the $40 to $50 per acre income you would get from pasture rent could compete with a cash rent of $120 or more for corn and soybeans.”

He remains optimistic over the long term because when managed appropriately, these operations protect fragile soils and function well with little energy and external inputs. Grass-based agriculture also is a lower-risk way for young people to get into agriculture, he added.

An early adopter of rotational grazing and biomass production in Wayne County, Sellers continues to manage 240 acres for forage production and wildlife habitat. He served more than 33 years on the Wayne County Soil and Water Conservation District board, and is serving a second six-year term on the State Soil Conservation Committee. He is chair of the Iowa Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative and past president of the Iowa Forage and Grasslands Council. He lives on the farm with his wife Jean.

 

Back to Leopold Letter Spring 2009