WELCOME 2013!
As we enter a new year, here’s something to ponder from Aldo Leopold’s “Conservation” essay [Round River: From the Journals of Aldo Leopold, Oxford University Press, 1993]:
When one considers the prodigious achievements of the profit motive in wrecking land, one hesitates to reject it as a vehicle for restoring land. I incline to believe we have overestimated the scope of the profit motive. Is it profitable for the individual to build a beautiful home? To give his children a higher education? No, it is seldom profitable, yet we do both. These are, in fact, ethical and aesthetic premises which underlie the economic system. Once accepted, economic forces tend to align the smaller details of social organization into harmony with them.
CONGRATS TO JAN AND TIM
Our newest recipients of the Spencer Award for Sustainable Agriculture are Jan Libbey and Tim Landgraf, who operate One Step at a Time Gardens near Kanawha in Hancock County. They’ll receive the award on January 11 during the annual meeting of Practical Farmers of Iowa.
Get to know them in our Winter newsletter
ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Kudos also go to Matt Liebman, Iowa State professor of agronomy, who is the recipient of PFI’s 2013 Sustainable Agriculture Achievement Award. He has been active in sustainable agriculture more than 30 years, but recently attracted national attention for his work on extended rotations at the Marsden Farm (also supported with Leopold Center research dollars).
Read this new FAQ for more insight into Liebman's rotation research
CLEAN WATER
Iowans have until January 18 to review and comment on a new plan to reduce nutrient loading from farms and sewage treatment plants to improve water quality and shrink the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. (The original deadline has been extended)
CLEAN ENERGY
The Waterloo Courier featured Tom and Irene Frantzen who are turning one of their farm’s waste products into heat for their home. The Frantzens have been active with the Farm Energy Working Group that has developed a one-stop shop for farm energy resources and has featured the Frantzens in a video.
WINTER NEWSLETTER
What can we learn from our farming past? Quite a bit, as Leopold Center Director Mark Rasmussen discovered as he explored some of his family’s agricultural history. Read his column in the Winter issue of The Leopold Letter, which should be arriving in your mailboxes soon. Distinguished Fellow Fred Kirschenmann also presents a compelling case for how we can end world hunger in his Toward a Sustainable Future commentary.
Go to our Winter 2012 Leopold Letter newsletter
ACCOUNTANT POSITION
The Leopold Center is looking for qualified candidates to fill the position of Administrative Specialist II, to be shared with another center on campus. Check out the ISU job board (vacancy #121367)
NEW PROFILE ON CAMPUS
Iowa State University has installed a wind turbine that went into operation just before Christmas. The university also is part owner of a large wind farm in northern Story County, which generated 8.5 percent of the campus' electricity in FY12.
