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The Leopold Center will present one of the state’s largest awards in sustainable agriculture to a Hardin County cattle producer and his family during the Iowa State Fair.
David, Diane and Dresden Petty of Eldora will receive the 2003 Spencer Award for Sustainable Agriculture. Presentation of a $1,000 check and plaque is scheduled for 4 p.m., Saturday, August 9 at the beginning of the Governor’s Charity Steer Show in the Pioneer Livestock Pavilion on the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines.
Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack has been invited to present the award. Also participating in the brief ceremony will be Leopold Center director Fred Kirschenmann and advisory board chair Jim Penney.
The Spencer Award was created in 2001 to recognize farmers, researchers and educators who have made a significant contribution toward the stability of mainstream family farms in Iowa. It is funded by an endowment from the family of Norman and Margaretha Spencer, who farmed near Sioux City for 40 years. The family asked that the Leopold Center administer the award annually as funds are available.
The Petty family owns and operates the Iowa River Ranch, a cattle and crop operation running along eight miles of the Iowa River from Eldora to Union. Their commercial Angus herd is rotationally grazed on 22 connecting pastures, each with its own water source away from streams and waterways. Their farm also is home to hundreds of whitetail deer, wild turkey and waterfowl.
In 2001, the Petty family received the National Environmental Stewardship Award from the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. And in 2002, Petty received another top honor from the Kansas City region of the federal EPA, the first given to a farmer. The Petty family also has been active in hosting pasture walks and tours of their farm, and sharing their ideas about land stewardship with others.
The Petty family was chosen for the award by a nine-person committee comprised of members of the Leopold Center advisory board, Fred Kirschenmann and Laura Miller of the Center staff, and two members of the Spencer family. The committee’s selection is confirmed by Dean Catherine Woteki of the ISU College of Agriculture.
The first Spencer Award was presented in 2002 to David and Amy Petersen, who have a dairy operation near Blue Grass, Iowa. For more information about the Petersens or to learn more about the Spencer family, check out the Leopold Center web site: www.leopold.iastate.edu/spencer/spencer.html.
Guidelines for the 2004 award will be announced by the end of the year.
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