Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture

Director: How does the Leopold Center Policy Initiative fit with other research?

Back to Leopold Letter Winter 2009

By JERRY DEWITT, Leopold Center director

Q. How does the Leopold Center Policy Initiative fit with other research?

The Policy Initiative is the third focus area of the Leopold Center’s overall research program. The majority of our efforts and resources are centered on the other two initiatives, Ecological Research (led by Jeri Neal) and Marketing and Food Systems (led by Rich Pirog). Approximately 95 percent or more of our resources are dedicated to these two initiatives annually, with slightly more than half of that amount invested in ecological projects.

But, we recognize that some of the alternatives studied by the other two initiatives will call for new policies or changes in existing policies in order to be successful. This led to a decision, influenced by stakeholders more than 10 years ago, to add some policy studies to the mix to better focus and integrate our work.


Q. How does the Leopold Center define its work in policy?

Policy may be defined as a definite course or method of action selected from among alternatives and in the light of given conditions to guide and, usually, to determine present and future decisions. We want to be a part of this process. We decided early on to concentrate on local and regional policy work and looked for projects related to land use, energy and alternatives.

Objectives for the Policy Initiative are to:

  • link potential local, state or regional policies to enhanced sustainability of natural resources and
  • provide basic research or benchmark data analysis needed to help assess or implement possible new local or state policies and alternatives for Iowa.

We at the Center feel that it is an opportunity and our responsibility to help inform agricultural policy in Iowa. We fully realize that to a very large extent national policy drives practices and programs offered in Iowa. We also recognize that with our limited resources and staffing we cannot attempt to be a major, direct player in setting and influencing national policy.

However, we can be a voice and model for local policy elements that ultimately may be practical and useful in the national debate and process. We can provide support for basic data collection and analysis and demonstrate working models of practical utility for today’s agriculture.

We look to these audiences for our work:

  • State agencies
  • Conservation and natural resource partners
  • County boards of supervisors
  • Cities/municipalities
  • Iowa General Assembly, and
  • Iowa legal community.

Q. What current projects are supported by the Center’s Policy Initiative?


A major Policy Initiative effort is related to how Iowa’s farmland is owned and managed. We are in the midst of a two-year collaboration with the Drake University Agricultural Law Center called the Iowa Landowner and Sustainable Agricultural Land Stewardship Project. It targets landowners and their awareness and interest in improving conservation practices and stewardship on their lands as they work with tenants. What tools do landowners need and how can these tools and approaches be used in everyday practices in Iowa agriculture?

Products of the project will include a film and guides for farm owners, including a model sustainable agricultural farm leasing guide.

The Center is joining with Drake University to sponsor a national conference in Washington, D.C. on March 4-5, “America’s New Farmers: Policy Innovation and Opportunities.” It will identify innovative policies and projects at the federal, state, and local levels to support new and beginning farmers.

In 2009, we surveyed the boards of supervisors in all of Iowa’s counties with the major assistance of the Iowa State Association of Counties (ISAC). We found that there is a substantial awareness and belief that local food systems, infrastructure, and presence at the county level may lead to greater economic development in the county. We captured ideas for supporting the supervisors to better assist them on key decision-making locally.

Mike Duffy, former Leopold Center associate director and ISU Extension economist, has been working on a paper reporting on national farmland ownership issues. He and his students are preparing crop enterprise budgets to help beginning and transitioning farmers decide what crops and livestock might be good economic choices for their operations. These will be jointly issued by the Center’s Policy Initiative and the ISU Beginning Farmer Center.

Finally, we also try to integrate elements of policy in many of our other competitively funded research projects. Our work in Ecology and Marketing and Food Systems cannot always succeed independent of public policy, and we encourage our researchers to think about the policy implications of their findings.

Back to Leopold Letter Winter 2009