Leopold Center loses long-time staff member, gains another; other changes
Recent changes at the Leopold Center have included saying farewell to one long-time staff member and filling a new full-time position for a project launched by a recent $560,000 grant.
April Franksain, who joined the Center in 1991 when it was under the leadership of Dennis Keeney, left in May for another position on the Iowa State University campus.
Franksain had managed the office and an extensive database. She also answered the telephone and numerous questions, and took care of any number of details that kept the Center running smoothly and made it a pleasant place for staff and visitors alike. Her new part-time position in the ISU Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering Department will allow her to spend more time with her family.
Amber Lonnevik, an ISU senior in agricultural business from Britt, has been handling secretarial duties during the summer months.
The newest addition to the staff is Andrew Hug, who brings a variety of experiences and talents to the Center. Hug began work as a program assistant June 24, and will split his time between the new Value Chain Partnerships for a Sustainable Agriculture project funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Center’s marketing and food systems initiative.
For Hug, a native of Coralville, the Leopold Center move has brought him back to a long-time interest in agriculture and the environment. As a new graduate of the University of Iowa master’s program in urban and regional planning, Hug was hired in 1989 to be the first staff member for a Washington, D.C.-based center now known as the Environmental Working Group. His job was to research and write policy analyses on agricultural nonpoint source water pollution and wetlands issues, and provide technical assistance for the 1990 Farm Bill, the Clean Water Act, and two fiscal years of environmental appropriations.
He also worked on the Chesapeake Bay program with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, then moved to Iowa in 1995 to direct communications for a computer security software company at the ISU Research Park. He also has worked on the Iowa governor’s wetlands and watershed policy task forces and has been involved in running his own software company. More recently, he has worked on an ISU food safety project with Food Science Human Nutrition Extension. He lives in Ames with his wife and two daughters.
Another change is a 25 percent appointment for Rich Pirog as associate director of Practical Farmers of Iowa. He will retain a 75 percent appointment as the Center’s marketing and food systems program leader, and continue to direct the Value Chain Partnerships project.
Pirog’s primary PFI responsibilities are to coordinate the group’s food system projects, develop work plans, help facilitate PFI board meetings and retreats, and work with the Buy Fresh, Buy Local campaign. His appointment runs from July 1, 2003, through February 29, 2004.
Pirog has signed agreements with the Center and PFI outlining specific parameters of his job, which includes no involvement in financial decisions regarding PFI, or grant proposals submitted to the Leopold Center by PFI. The Leopold Center has supported PFI’s on-farm demonstration and food system projects since 1998.
Leopold Center director Fred Kirschenmann said the joint appointment will help the Center explore ways to engage practicing farmers with university resources.
2003 Center Progress Report details work from 13 grant projects
Leopold Center research projects continue to span the impressive breadth of Iowa’s agricultural interests. Just leafing through the newest issue of the Center Progress Report takes the reader from wetlands, to pawpaws, to rotational grazing, to composting, with many other interesting stops in between.
Summaries of the 13 research and education projects completed in 2002 appear in an illustrated, 56-page paperback. The projects are organized in these categories:
- Agriculture and communities
- Crop systems
- Ecology
- Livestock systems
In addition to projects directly related to agricultural production, the report also details investigators’ efforts to establish local food marketing and distribution systems and encourage institutional purchases of local foods. The Center’s research and demonstration efforts were carried out on Iowa farms, at Iowa State University’s outlying research farms, and in urban and suburban areas of the state.
The summaries are condensed from longer, more detailed final reports submitted by principal investigators. Copies of the complete final reports are available from the Center. Readers also may contact the investigators directly for more information. Center editor Mary Adams is in charge of producing the Progress Report.
Iowa agricultural producers, researchers and educators will appreciate the variety of topics covered in this volume. To receive a free copy of the 2003 Center Progress Report, contact the Center at (515) 294-3711, or download a copy from the Center’s web site.### [Note: file is 680KB in size; photograph quality may vary from printed version].
Leopold Center issue team leader receives top research honor
James Russell, who has led the Leopold Center’s animal management issue team since 1989, received the Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc. Forage Award during the American Dairy Science Association annual meeting June 24 in Phoenix. The award recognizes outstanding research on forage production, processing, storage and utilization.
Russell's research focuses on forage utilization systems that optimize long-term return on investment in beef production. His primary research areas are summer rotational grazing and winter systems using crop residues and stockpiled forages. More recent research centers on improving environmental quality through grazing management.
He is a professor in the ISU Department of Animal Science, where he also teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in animal nutrition, ethics and sustainable agriculture. He received his doctorate, master's and bachelor degrees from the University of Wisconsin and joined the ISU faculty in 1979.
The animal management issue team includes ISU researchers and extension faculty, governmental personnel and farmers. The interdisciplinary team concept was fostered by the Leopold Center, which supported the team’s work through 2001.The team has continued its research through other programs and granting agencies.
Fall date for ecologist
The Leopold Center still hopes to bring internationally known ecologist Jules Pretty to Iowa in 2003 to wrestle with topic of economics and the environment.
Pretty’s visit, originally set for June, was re-scheduled to allow more participation by Iowa State students and faculty, who would have been on summer break. The visit also may be combined with that of another national speaker, and coordinated with a lecture featuring University of Maine economist Stewart Smith.
Pretty is director of the Centre for Environment and Society at Great Britain’s University of Essex. He has reviewed studies of more than 200 sustainable farming projects on 70 million acres in 52 countries, and has written eight books.
October 7 conference considers farms in transition
The Leopold Center’s policy initiative is planning an October 6 conference to address another looming problem in Iowa agriculture – farms in transition.
The latest U.S. Census shows Iowa is losing farms at a pace three times the national average, with more than twice as many farmers over age 65 as under age 35. An ISU survey in 2000 showed that a majority of Iowa farmers have not made plans for the future of their farm businesses or for their retirement.
The day-long meeting will look at policy options and legal methods that could help beginning and retiring farmers. Co-sponsors include the Beginning Farmer Center at Iowa State University and the Drake Agricultural Law Center.
The conference will be at the Scheman Building in Ames.
Salute to agriculture
The Leopold Center is one of several co-sponsors for an Iowa State University lecture by author Annie Proulx on September 15.
Proulx’s address will begin at 8 p.m. in Sun Room of the ISU Memorial Union, Ames. Her presentation will launch ISU’s new Center for Excellence in the Arts and Humanities and a year-long series of lectures by writers and artists on agriculture and the environment.
Proulx was the first woman to win the prestigious PEN/Faulkner book award in 1993 for her debut novel Postcards. The following year she won a Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for her novel, The Shipping News, made into the 2001 film starring Kevin Spacey and Julianne Moore.
Proulx, who began writing fiction in her fifties, is praised for her vivid depiction of locale and character as well as her offbeat humor.
MBA program adds sustainable ag
The Master of Business Administration (MBA) program in Iowa State University’s College of Business will incorporate a sustainable agriculture minor and two new graduate assistantships in the fall.
The new MBA minor combines some of the coursework from ISU’s Graduate Program in Sustainable Agriculture (GPSA) in the College of Agriculture. The GPSA, which began in 2001, was the first graduate program of its kind among land grant universities.
The graduate assistantships are funded by a grant from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation as part of the Value Chain Partnerships for Sustainable Agriculture project coordinated by the Leopold. The graduate students will assist working groups on the development of food supply networks for local and regional foods, specialty pork and products related to bio-based businesses in Iowa. One of the goals of the Value Chain Partnerships project is to build value chains that reward small and midsize farmers in Iowa who follow sustainable agricultural practices in their operations.
For more information about the MBA assistantships, contact GPSA program coordinator Gretchen Zdorkowski, (515) 294-6061 or e-mail gretzdor@iastate.edu. More information about the MBA degree program is on the web at: www.IowaStateMBA.com.
|