Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture

Leopold Notes March 2012

Notes from the Leopold Center Archive

SEE YOU AT THE SUMMIT!
Be sure to register for the April 3 Local Food Summit in Ames!. We need everyone’s ideas and views about what needs to take place to ramp-up local food systems in Iowa. Discussion will focus on six areas of work outlined for the Local Food and Farm Program: business development and financial assistance; food processing (including meat); food safety; beginning, transitioning and minority farmers; assessing programs; and incentives. Des Moines artist David Dahlquist also will share how to create a sense of place that embraces food, community, history and culture.

More on our calendar

SYMPHONY OF THE SOIL
You also will not want to miss this new feature-length film about soil, Symphony of the Soil. Its first world-wide showing is at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum and then you can see it in Iowa: on Tuesday, March 27 in Cedar Falls and on Wednesday, March 28 in Ames. We’re bringing filmmaker Deborah Koons Garcia to Iowa for both showings, and organizing a panel discussion for thoughtful comment. Garcia, the widow of Grateful Dead lead Singer Jerry Garcia, is perhaps best known for her 2004 documentary, The Future of Food.

Ames event info

Cedar Falls event info

TRANSPLANT TIPS AND TRICKS
Vegetable growers will want to check out this all-day workshop at Iowa State University by the newest faculty member, Ajay Nair, on April 7. Nair’s work is supported by a special allocation from the Leopold Center. The workshop will focus on specific areas of transplant production - greenhouse lighting, water quality, nutrient medium, organic production and pest management.

More about this event

RENEWABLE ENERGY POLICY
A competitive grant from the Leopold Center’s Policy Initiative looked at the potential for feed-in tariffs, a public policy option that would encourage farmers, homeowners and businesses to invest in small-scale renewable energy projects like wind turbines and solar panels.

Read more in a new report

ENERGY DEMONSTRATION
Three Iowa farmers have received grants from the Iowa Farm Energy Working Group to show how they reduce fossil fuel use and meet their energy needs on the farm. The demonstrations involve a biogas digester, wood-waste boiler system and a cooling system for a vegetable building. The working group also has a series of videos showing how other farmer-cooperators are reducing their energy use.

More

TESTING A TRIO: PRAIRIE STRIPS, ROW CROPS, BIRDS
A little bit can go a long way, at least when it comes to habitat for birds. Watch a video of Leopold Center-supported research at the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge in Jasper County. Researchers at the site have recorded 52 bird species.

Watch the video

CHECK OUT THESE ACTIVITIES
The Food Access and Health Working Group explores public gardens to address hunger at a webinar March 22 and will have its quarterly meeting April 13. Iowa Learning Farms will focus on biochar during its monthly webinar March 21. Farmers also are invited to food safety workshops all over the state. More details, plus a link to Fred Kirschenmann’s Tedx Talk in January, “From Dirt to Lifeline,” is on our calendar.

Leopold Center calendar page

CONGRATULATIONS
Kudos to Francis and Susan Thicke of Fairfield, recently named Organic Farmer of the Year during the 2012 Organic Farming Conference. The Thickes received the Spencer Award for Sustainable Agriculture from the Leopold Center in 2009.

More on the MOSES website

NEW TOOL
The USDA released a new online resource for local and regional food, Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food Compass. The first case study profiles an Iowa project that began with a Leopold Center grant.

Check out the Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food Compass [USDA website]

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