Leopold Center - Other news - Fall 2006 newsletter

Growing up on a small, diversified farm in northeast Nebraska gave Beth Larabee her first introduction to sustainable agriculture. As the new program assistant at the Leopold Center, Larabee hopes she’ll be able to help farmers who follow sustainable practices reap some of the financial rewards.

Larabee will work with the Value Chain Partnerships for a Sustainable Agriculture program and the Center’s Marketing and Food Systems Initiative. Projects in both areas focus on the need for developing viable niche markets for Iowa farmers who raise sustainably grown food, fiber and other products. She replaces Andrew Hug, who left the Center in August to work with the Henry A. Wallace Chair for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University.

“It all comes down to economics; farmers need to be profitable, no matter what kind of practices they follow,” said Larabee, who spent the past two years as research associate for the Iowa Learning Farm project. She worked with 31 farmer-participants throughout Iowa, taking samples of soil and biomass, checking infiltration rates and recording their observations that were part of the on-farm research conducted in the ISU Department of Agronomy.

“I spent a lot of time talking to farmers about changing their tillage or adding a green manure crop,” she explained. “These were all good ideas, but farmers need to know how to make a living while they are making these changes. Having a viable market for crops and products that are raised under different conditions is very, very important.”

Larabee’s parents farmed 600 acres near Royal, Nebraska in what she describes as a “semi-subsistence” operation. They grew corn and soybeans, also hay, a rye-vetch crop, navy beans for human consumption, and cucumbers (destined to become Gedney pickles) and had a prairie seed production enterprise. She said they also raised hogs, dairy, beef cattle and “about anything that had feathers.” Produce from a fruit orchard and large garden rounded out the family’s diet.

“Sustainable agriculture was part of my culture growing up but that wasn’t what they called it,” she said. “They were just looking for alternatives when they couldn’t afford the conventional methods.”

Larabee’s mother, who is one-quarter Lakota Sioux, remains involved with the operation, which is managed by a son and son-in-law. They still grow corn, hay and prairie seed, raise cattle and horses, and market land leases for hunters.

Larabee has an undergraduate degree in agronomy and a master’s degree in soil science, both from ISU. For her graduate research project, she measured changes over 30 years in 17 prairie potholes in north central Iowa. The soil, known as a histosol, is very productive but fragile once the area is tiled and drained.

“Two of the potholes had disappeared completely, one that covered 70 acres in Boone County,” she said. “We’ve lost so much of our soil in such a short amount of time. We’re not looking at “if” our farming practices will change, but “when,” that is, if we want to survive as a species.”

Larabee lives in Ames with her husband, Randy, who is an engineer for ISU Facilities, Planning and Management. They have two daughters, both ISU students, and a son-in-law.

New secretary joins Leopold Center

When you visit or call the Leopold Center, the first person you’ll meet is another new staff member, Blue Maas.

Maas joined the staff in late September following the retirement of long-time ISU secretary Sherry Johnson. Her duties include answering the telephone, fielding inquiries and requests for publications, providing secretarial support for the interim director and distinguished fellow, making arrangements for meetings, and helping staff with various mailings and other projects. She also manages the Center’s extensive database.

Maas brings 15 years of ISU secretarial experience to the Leopold Center, as well as a passion for local foods and human rights. She has worked for the computer science, economics and forestry departments as well as ISU’s graduate college and environmental health and safety offices.

Maas grew up on a family farm near Williamsburg, Iowa, but has lived in Ames most of her adult life. Her family raised crops, cattle and hogs, and her mother tended a large vegetable garden.

“Working at the Leopold Center I most enjoy the connection with my rural roots,” she said. “I’m saddened by the loss of so many family farms but I’m ecstatic to be where I think I can make a difference.”

Her unusual first name is actually a nickname from her father, with whom she shares a December 22 birthday, which often falls on the winter solstice. “My father was a nature lover, and it was a day like many others that time of year with blue sky and awful ice, so the name stuck.”

Maas lives in Ames. She has three adult sons and three young grandchildren.

Midwest Wine Institute

The Iowa Board of Regents in September approved a proposal from Iowa State University to create a Midwest Grape and Wine Industry Institute. The Iowa Grape and Wine Commission (under the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship) is the largest funder of the institute in its first three years. Other revenue comes from ISU Extension, the Leopold Center (through a three-year grant that supports work of the extension enologist) and a private three-year gift.

Resources for teachers

Leopold Center Interim Director Jerry DeWitt and Center initiative leaders Jeri Neal and Rich Pirog shared Leopold Center resources with Iowa high school and community college ag instructors who attended training sessions hosted by the Iowa Department of Education. Among the resources is a lesson adapted from three case studies of grass-based producers who market directly to consumers.