Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture

Leopold Letter Archive

Back to Newsletters

This is our quarterly 12-page newsletter. Below is a description of what you'll find in each issue. Click on issue date for links to newsletter articles, download a PDF by clicking on the newsletter image, or sign up to receive the Leopold Letter by email or in your mailbox.

View our current newsletter issue here.

Read columns written by Fred Kirschenmann

2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997
Download PDF
Download PDF

Leopold Letter Winter 2009

Looking at local

Look at what Iowans paid for local and non-local food, revealing surprises and opportunities for farmers. Another research project uses fire to improve forages in southern Iowa, and results of a recent study of the air inside hoops and confinement buildings. Policy and food politics are discussion topics for our regular commentaries.

Other features: A new place to find Leopold Center research, an on-line tool to help growers ensure food safety, a new agroforestry group, key points from the Keeney lecture on hypoxia, and the latest Spencer Award presentation.

Read articles in this issue.
Download PDF
Download PDF

Leopold Letter Fall 2009

Renewable, relevant research

How does the Leopold Center support renewable and alternative energy research? The relevance of Leopold Center work also is a discussion topic for Director Jerry DeWitt, while Distinguished Fellow Fred Kirschenman tackles affording agriculture in an energy- and climate-challenged future.

Other features: A trip to a grass-based dairy, research on how to use ethanol co-products in forage systems, sustainable weed management for Iowa vineyards, a workshop that shines a national spotlight on the Leopold Center, and a look at the bioeconomy core issue.

Read articles in this issue.
Download PDF
Download PDF

Leopold Letter Summer 2009

Leopold and the land

This issue announced a new land tenure project with Drake University, edge-of-field treatments to keep the land and water healthy, and recollections from a visit to the desert wilderness that informed Aldo Leopold’s early ideas. Director Jerry DeWitt also talks about how we’re seeing the land - and agriculture - in new ways. And read Distinguished Fellow Fred Kirschenmann's cautionary counsel about the dangers of too much certainty.

Other features: Lessons from a successful local food program in Pottawattamie County, high tunnels to extend the growing season a new book about grass and commentary on the Center’s Livestock and Diversity core issue.
 

Read articles in this issue.
Download PDF
Download PDF

Leopold Letter Spring 2009

Projects, perennials, soils and searches

See our slate of new projects and the search for a new director. You'll also learn about a new team devoted to getting more perennials on the land and read Distinguished Fellow Fred Kirschenmann's tribute to the foundation of every farm's success, its soil. Director DeWitt outlines how the Leopold Center has adapted to the economic downturn, and you'll hear from a student in Aldo Leopold's last class 61 years ago.

Other features: Comments from a successful local foods workshop, how a community of practice became a real community for a small meat processing plant, new on-line features on the Leopold Center Web site, how Agriculture of the Middle could restore choice in the marketplace, the Center's newest annual report.

Read articles in this issue.