News &Notes from the Leopold Center, Summer 2002

Two Iowa State University students associated with the Leopold Center have been invited to present their ideas on sustainability at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in August. The students are Erin Tegtmeier, a graduate student in sustainable agriculture from Chicago and a Leopold Fellow; and Matt Miller, a senior student in English from Ames who has provided secretarial support at the Leopold Center. Both were members of winning teams in an Iowa United Nations Association competition in which students submitted their plans to create a more sustainable Iowa. Tegtmeier's presentation focused on agricultural education opportunities. Miller's project related to sustainable energy systems for Iowa communities. The summit, which takes place from Aug. 24 to Sept. 4 in South Africa, is a follow-up to the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.

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Leopold Center associate director Mike Duffy joined other university agricultural economists and public policy officials in Kansas City in May to discuss provisions of the new farm bill, and begin the process of educating others. The Farm Bill Education Conference was sponsored by the Oak Brook, Ill.-based Farm Foundation. Kansas State University has posted a series of articles arising from the discussions on the web at: www.oznet.ksu.edu/news/sty/2002/June02FarmBill.htm. Duffy heads the Center's new policy initiative and presented information about the conservation title in the farm bill. The U.S. Department of Agriculture also has set up a web site with program information, tools and forms at: www.usda.gov/farmbill.

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The Leopold Center's 2000-2001 annual report has won an award in an international educational resources competition. The report, which focused on new directions for the Leopold Center, received a silver (second-place) award in the one- to three-color print category in the 2002 Critique and Awards program of the Agricultural Communicators in Education (ACE). The report was written by Center editor Mary Adams and designed by Juls Design, Ankeny. The honor will be awarded during the organization's annual conference in August in Savannah, Georgia. Also at the ACE conference, Center communications specialist Laura Miller will receive a top writing award for a series of youth farm safety publications she helped develop for Iowa State University.

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Two projects that received seed money from the Leopold Center to begin their work have been named national "flagship" programs. A swine carcass composting demonstration and a program to train Iowa citizens as "master conservationists" have been named top programs of the National Resources and Environmental Management (NREM) division of the Cooperative Extension Service. More than 50 programs from 22 states were submitted for the honor, and five from Iowa were selected to be part of a national database of model programs. ISU agricultural and biosystems engineering professor Tom Glanville directed the composting demonstration with Jay Harmon and Tom Richard. ISU animal ecologist Jim Pease developed the master conservationist program.

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Two new publications highlight Leopold Center food systems projects and work in the new marketing initiative. Practical Farmers of Iowa (PFI) has produced a brochure, Expanding Local Food Systems by Marketing to Iowa Institutions, available on the web at: www.pfi.iastate.edu (PDF only; go to Food Systems/Institutional buying of local foods). Iowa State University Extension is producing a second fact sheet in a series about local markets for Iowa products. The fact sheet, Local Food Connections: From Farms to Restaurants, (PM 1853b), will be available in July from the ISU Extension Distribution Center, or on the web at www.extension.iastate.edu/pubs (look under Farm Marketing).