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Annual report: Balancing change, sustainability The Leopold Center’s new annual report reflects the twin themes of FY2006: soldiering on in the midst of change and adopting a bold and balanced approach to achieving sustainability. The 40-page illustrated document offers readers a comprehensive look at the activities, outreach, demonstrations and research projects conducted or supported by the Center from July 2005 through June 2006. Readers of the report will learn about the exciting work done by the research initiatives in ecology, policy, and marketing and food systems. Numerous, tightly focused research projects as well as challenging special projects were sponsored by the initiatives. All three initiatives also supported education and outreach efforts on the ISU campus and around Iowa. The report features information on the Center’s long-term commitment to organic agriculture research conducted by Iowa State University and its continuing support of on-farm research carried out with Practical Farmers of Iowa. The Center also contributes to a burgeoning ISU project on agroecology, the state’s budding grape and wine program, and is actively involved in plans for making an environmental showcase of west central Iowa’s Whiterock Conservancy. Fred Kirschenmann offers a look at his work as the Center’s first Distinguished Fellow – providing guidance and assistance to the Agriculture of the Middle project, the Pew Commission, Silos and Smokestacks, and the nation’s other sustainable agriculture centers. Center editor Mary Adams and Julie Mangels of Juls Design, Ankeny, Iowa, collaborated on the production of the report. Mangels selected a unique new paper stock for the publication. Her choice, Mohawk Via Smooth paper, was manufactured entirely with non-polluting, wind-generated energy and contains 30 percent post-consumer recycled fiber. The paper is certified Green Seal, and a statement from Mohawk Paper lists the environmental savings involved in printing of the Center’s annual report.
Read the
report [PDF] or
request a copy to be mailed to your business or
home. Pirog becomes Center Associate director Rich Pirog is the new associate director of the Leopold Center. Pirog, who has been with the Center since 1990, was named associate director effective February 1. “The Center has historically had one or more associate directors but has been without a person in this position since Mike Duffy left in June 2005,” explained Leopold Center Director Jerry DeWitt. “After serving as director for a year, it became clear to me that it is important to have someone on staff to offer the administrative and programmatic support that an associate director is able to provide.” DeWitt praised Pirog for his leadership of the Center’s successful Marketing and Food Systems Initiative and the Value Chain Partnerships project. Pirog will continue to manage both projects and provide direction in the Center’s annual competitive grant process, conduct assessments on the impacts of Center programs and coordinate special research projects and the preparation of white papers. Pirog joined the Center in 1990 as its first education coordinator, and became program leader for the Center’s new marketing initiative in 2000. He is well-known nationally for his work on “food miles,” including a 2001 research paper that outlined some of the environmental costs attached to transporting fresh produce hundreds of miles from farms to centralized distribution sites. In 2004, Pirog received the ISU College of Agriculture’s Professional and Scientific Staff Award for Achievement and Service. He also received the 2003 Sustainable Agriculture Achievement Award from Practical Farmers of Iowa, where he served as associate director in 2004. He has been a member of the Iowa Food Policy Council since 2000.
Pirog has a master’s degree in agricultural meteorology
from the University of Missouri and an undergraduate
degree in earth science from Kean University in New
Jersey. 2007 Spencer Award for Sustainable Agriculture The Leopold Center is seeking nominations for the 2007 Spencer Award, one of Iowa’s largest awards in sustainable agriculture. Nominations are due April 27. The Spencer Award for Sustainable Agriculture recognizes a farmer, researcher or educator who has made a significant contribution toward the stability of mainstream family farms in Iowa.
The award honors Woodbury County farmers Norman and
Margaretha Spencer, and includes a $1,000 cash gift.
More at about
the award and a nomination form Iowa State University staff and students may be seeing more local and organic foods on campus menus. ISU Dining Director Nancy Levandowski discussed her plans with more than 40 farmers and local food group leaders at a meeting February 28. Organizers included the Leopold Center, Practical Farmers of Iowa, the Iowa Network for Community Agriculture and the Iowa Farmers Union. The university hopes to have 35 percent of its food purchases supporting sustainability and Iowa farmers by 2012. The Leopold Center will work with ISU Dining and farm group partners to help realize this goal. ISU Dining operates three residential dining centers, four food convenience stores and 11 cafes and restaurants and a catering service. More [ISU News Service release] Leopold Center Distinguished Fellow Fred Kirschenmann has written an article published in the March/April issue of Agronomy Journal that looks at what might follow the current energy-intensive production system in agriculture. He writes that farms of the future will conserve energy by relying on synergies created by biological diversity. The article, which outlines eight guiding principles for farms of the future, is entitled, “Potential for a New Generation of Biodiversity in Agroecosystems of the Future.” An abstract is available online at: http://agron.scijournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/99/2/373 Web site features place-based foods The story of good eating in Iowa as told through Dutch letters, popcorn, creamy Maytag blue cheese and other foods is now just a click away. Iowa Arts Council Folklife Coordinator Riki Saltzman has developed a web site about place-based Iowa foods – highly differentiated food products with strong ties to where and/or how they are grown or processed. The site includes audio, photographs, and downloadable documents. Saltzman’s project began in 2005 as a competitive grant from the Center’s Marketing and Food Systems Initiative. The web site also offers a list of locations where the foods can be purchased. Leopold Center Marketing and Food System Initiative leader Rich Pirog, who wrote the Center’s often-cited “food miles” report, was quoted in the February issue of American Way, an in-flight magazine published by American Airlines. The article noted the growing number of “locavores,” a term coined by San Francisco bookstore manager Sage Van Wing. |
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Back to Spring 2007 Leopold Letter
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