Leopold Center - Other news - Winter 2005 newsletter

A new group addressing the possibilities of flax production in Iowa is forming under the Value Chain Partnerships for a Sustainable Agriculture (VCPSA) project. Over the past two years, ISU Extension specialists have been working with Iowa producers to grow and market flax. Their experiences will generate the information needed to support a new, more profitable crop for rotations. The primary market is for organic flaxseed oil, which is high in Omega-three fatty acids. The new group will bring together producers, processors, nonprofit groups and higher education agencies to support development of this potential market. For more information, contact Andrew Hug at the Leopold Center, (515) 294-8530, ahug@iastate.edu. Also leading the effort are Robert Karp on behalf of Practical Farmers of Iowa, and Margaret Smith and Rick Exner from ISU Extension.

The business side of sustainable ag

Three new Iowa State University graduate students are getting practical experience in business as well as sustainable agriculture. Andrea Spiker and Scott Kincaid of Ames and Kory Beidler of Ankeny are enrolled in the ISU College of Business MBA program with a minor in sustainable agriculture, the only graduate-level program of its kind in the nation. All have assistantships with the Value Chain Partnerships for a Sustainable Agriculture (VCPSA) program coordinated by the Leopold Center. Kincaid is helping the project’s BioEconomy Working Group, Beidler is assisting the Regional Food Systems Working Group, and Spiker is working with the new flaxseed group. A second-year student in the program, Erik Schneider of Fairport, is involved with the Pork Niche Market Working Group.

Feeding small grains to swine

Leopold Center-funded research is included in a new publication from Iowa State University Extension, Feeding Small Grains to Swine, PM 1994. The publication covers barley, oats, rye, triticale and wheat, with separate sections on nutrient composition, use as bedding, and challenges. The publication is available on the web: www.extension.iastate.edu/Publications/PM1994.pdf, or by contacting Mark Honeyman, (515) 294-4621.

Bear Creek group gets national recognition

A group of Iowa State University researchers that began its work as the Leopold Center Agroecology Issue Team was honored with a national award. The team was profiled during an August 2005 White House Conference on Cooperative Conservation in St. Louis, Missouri. Team members received certificates for their leadership during a tour of the Bear Creek National Research and Buffer Site that was part of the Trees Forever annual meeting. The team’s 16-year effort to identify native perennial plant communities for riparian management helped the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service develop national buffer standards. The effort also provided the foundation for the Iowa Buffer Initiative.

ISU team members include Dick Schultz, Joe Colletti, Tom Isenhart, Steve Jungst and Tim Stewart, Natural Resource Ecology and Management; Bill Simpkins, Geology and Atmospheric Sciences; Jim Russell, Animal Science; Jim Raich, Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology; Mark Tomer, Cindy Cambardella, Tim Parkin and John Kovar, National Soil Tilth Laboratory; and visiting scientists Jim Kie Yeo, South Korea; and Miguel Pietrangeli, Venezuela.

Grow Your Small Market Farm course offered

The Leopold Center is a key financial partner in the 2006 Grow Your Small Market Farm course taught by Penny Brown Huber through the Iowa State University Small Business Development Center. The class is open to 25 producers who farm 50 acres or less and are interested in direct marketing. Classes will meet weekly in Des Moines January 21 to April 15. For more information, contact Huber at (515) 232-1344, BrownPennyL@aol.com.

New group looks at long-term changes

The Leopold Center is a principal partner in a grant (now in its second year) from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to establish a multi-state stakeholder network of organizations and agencies working on long-term water quality projects in the Mississippi River basin.

The project is administered by the Mississippi River Basin Alliance (MRBA) headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In addition to the Leopold Center, a third key partner in the new stakeholder network is the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, also based in Minneapolis.

This network was created to enable more effective collaboration and leveraging of actions and resources among organizations basin-wide as they work to improve water quality and ecological health and reduce hypoxia levels in the Gulf of Mexico.

Project activities include:

The project has received matching funds from the McKnight Foundation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. The Leopold Center's Ecology Initiative has received approximately $52,500 for the first two years of the project.

Additional organizations on the central project team include the Sustainability Institute based in Hartland, Vermont, and the University of Minnesota-led initiative, Green Lands Blue Waters. Jeri Neal, program leader for the Ecology Initiative, represents the Leopold Center on the central project team.