Leopold Center - News from the advisory board

Sustainable agriculture is more than just caring for the land; it is also caring for the people who care for the land, says the newest member of the Leopold Center Advisory Board.

Kelley Donham, director of the Iowa Center for Agricultural Safety and Health (I-CASH), was appointed in January to represent the University of Iowa on the advisory board. He succeeds one of the Center’s original board members, U of I professor Leon Burmeister.

“There are a lot of important natural resources on our farms and sometimes we overlook the people who do the work,” Donham said. “The objective is to keep our family operations alive and well by keeping our people healthy and safe, which has a lot to do with the economy and whether you have a viable operation. An economically shaky operation can lead to stress and more injuries, so everything ties together.”

A professor of occupational and environmental health at the University of Iowa’s College of Public Health, Donham specializes in research on agriculture’s occupational and environmental hazards, particularly the effects of concentrated livestock facilities on human and animal health. In 2001 and 2002, he was part of a group of scientists at ISU and the U of I asked to look at current research on air quality related to large-scale animal feeding operations. The group’s April 2002 report has led to statewide discussion on a number of issues, including how future livestock facilities will be reviewed and approved.

“Politics has entered the picture so much that you get labeled as being on one side or the other,” said Donham, who was the practicing veterinarian for a 150-member hog producer cooperative in Kentucky for three years during the late 1970s. “My concern is about the nature of the problems, how common they are, and how to prevent them.”

Donham, a native Iowan, grew up on his family’s farm in Johnson County. He helped his father and grandfather on the 400-acre farm, which included row crops, a 5,000-head hog operation and a cow-calf operation. Donham left the farm when he was 30 to pursue a career in medicine and environmental health. The farm was annexed by Iowa City in 1980.

Four years ago, however, Donham decided to return to farm life. He purchased 300 acres in southeast Mahaska County, 60 miles from his Iowa City office.

“The farm is my other job and my passion,” he said. “I manage the farm but I rely on my neighbors to do the contract work that I do not have time to do.”

He’s planted 17 acres of native prairie, established four ponds to slow down water runoff, added buffer strips, and rejuvenated old bromegrass on idle ground by interseeding with legumes, and replacing much of it with native prairie grasses. “I’m trying to farm it but reduce the erosion and misuse this piece of ground has seen over the years,” he said. “The thin soil was row-cropped too extensively in the past and we’re trying to build it back to some sort of production that is more sustainable.”

Another position is open on the Leopold Center Advisory Board.

Paul Whitson, who represented the University of Northern Iowa, announced his retirement from the board in November. Whitson is a professor of biology and has taught classes in ecology, biogeography, and environmental technology at UNI.

Whitson has been a member of the advisory board since 1992. UNI is in the process of naming a replacement.

In addition to representatives from Iowa’s three public universities, the Center’s advisory board includes members appointed by the Agribusiness Association of Iowa, Drake University, Iowa Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and Iowa Soil and Water Conservation Districts. Four farmer-members are appointed by the Iowa Farm Bureau, Iowa Farmers Union, Practical Farmers of Iowa, and the State Soil Conservation Committee.