Q. What role should the Leopold Center play in Iowa's renewable energy debate?

The incredible explosion of the renewable energy era in rural America is certainly upon us. We see its evidence across the Iowa landscape, dotted with wind turbines, ethanol plants and other energy production facilities. These activities hold both promise and potential peril for Iowa and the landscape we hold dear – our water, soils and air. The challenge at the Leopold Center is to position our resources, both financial and educational, so that we can be efficient, focused and timely in our efforts.

Q. What starting points do you see in discussing renewable energy issues?

First, we need to ensure that the right questions and all viewpoints are on the table for discussion as Iowa moves forward in this rapidly developing arena. We need to make sure that our past successes are balanced with future promises and foreseeable risks as investments in renewable energy – whether in production, research or cropping systems – are made in our communities.

We need to think in terms of systems and connections. What do these investments mean for our natural resources? How could our landscape change with an increasing demand for corn to produce ethanol? Will we see more land and fragile soils returned to corn production? How do we better manage the amount of nitrogen needed for this level of production and its continued threat to our water resources?

These questions are not confined only to our natural resource base. What about the impacts that ripple across the livestock industry as more corn is used for fuel rather than animal feed? Distillers grains, a co-product of ethanol production, can be fed in the cattle industry, but what will be the impact on the pork and poultry industries, which cannot use these co-products? How will neighbors both near and far from plants adapt to these challenges? How will communities respond?

We need to know what investments in the bioeconomy truly mean for a community. Dave Swenson, a regional farm economy analyst at Iowa State, has provided an early glimpse at this picture. Work funded by the Value Chain Partnerships project (see page 8) offers realistic data and suggests topics that can help frame a community dialogue as new opportunities arise.

I think the Leopold Center’s challenge is to help explain the issues and ensure that a complete range of questions is asked, then debated thoughtfully. Are such questions and debates happening now? I do not think we are at that point yet, but we need to move in that direction.

And I think we need more than just talk. A USDA spokesman recently stated that the impending demand for corn ethanol production may call for 10 million additional acres of corn. How can that much extra corn be grown “sustainably”? From where I sit, I’d like more of a substantive discussion on that question.

Q. What’s on your agenda related to these topics?

In the future, I hope to encourage a greater recognition and commitment to energy conservation in Iowa agriculture. Leopold Center efforts in this arena can be both direct and indirect. One encouraging project with Leopold Center support is directed by Matt Liebman in the ISU Department of Agronomy. He has found that a four-year rotation with corn-soybean-triticale-alfalfa not only competed well economically when compared to a traditional corn-soybean rotation, but very significant reductions were achieved in nitrogen reduction and herbicide inputs. This is an example of what needs to be done.

The Leopold Center has a responsibility to help articulate the issues and ensure that different voices are raised at the table now. The Leopold Center will provide the data, dialogue and opportunity that allow us to be known for what we are for, and not what we are against.

Jerry DeWitt