Leopold Center - July 10-11 conference celebrates Center's first 20 years

The Leopold Center will mark two decades of innovative research and creative solutions during its 20th Anniversary Celebration July 10-11 at Iowa State University. Activities will highlight the Center’s many partners and successes and, more importantly, explore future challenges and obstacles to the sustainability of Iowa’s agricultural landscape.

“Don’t expect typical presentations and the usual conference fare,” said Leopold Center Director Jerry DeWitt. “We are looking at a variety of approaches to better engage everyone who attends these events. The Leopold Center’s work over the past 20 years has been anything but business as usual; likewise with the celebration.”

Holding true to that promise, the extensive event schedule begins July 10 with five optional tours leaving from the Iowa State Center (see page 8 for descriptions). July 11 activities in ISU’s Scheman Building include more than 20 breakout sessions during the day-long conference as well as posters and displays that highlight Leopold Center-funded research. During the lunch break, conference goers can attend an outdoor festival featuring live music, interactive displays and demonstrations and, of course, a locally sourced meal. The schedule also allows time for networking with Center partners and professionals from across the country.

Keynote speaker for the July 11 conference will be Mark Ritchie, newly elected Minnesota Secretary of State and founder of the Minneapolis-based Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. A 1972 ISU graduate, Ritchie grew up in Nevada, and is an active proponent of long-term sustainability for agriculture and rural communities. His keynote address is “Sustaining Agriculture, Sustaining Democracy.”

Breakout sessions for the conference are organized along four “hot issue” tracks: Food and Health, Bioeconomy, People on the Land and Natural Resources. A general track will offer four sessions – about Aldo Leopold’s legacy, what’s been learned in organic agriculture research, and a chance to view several multi-media projects.

Headlining the Food and Health track will be nutritionist and author Joan Dye Gussow, who wrote This Organic Life. She will join Iowa nutritionist Angie Tagtow to discuss issues related to food, health and the environment. Other sessions include an Iowa local food demonstration by chefs from two university dining services, an overview of local food accomplishments and future challenges, and a discussion about the process of bringing dairy products from an Iowa farm to a university dining hall.

Six breakout sessions are planned for the Bioeconomy track, ranging from wind energy and new cropping systems to sessions that explore an on-line farm planning tool and recycling processed ash from ethanol plants. In another session, four panelists will present their visions of an energy-efficient landscape for Iowa.

The People on the Land track considers four types of "capital" -- ecological, human, social and economic -- that make up what Aldo Leopold termed "the land community." Breakout sessions will look at opportunities for beginning farmers, how to maintain the land's capacity for self-renewal, diversification, the role of nature education, and policies that will help move farmers toward ecologically sound and profitable systems.

Breakout sessions in the Natural Resources track look at "rethinking agriculture" in terms of soil and water, plants and animals and a "living land." Three sessions will use a 3X3X3 format -- three panelists in three sessions with three minutes each to respond to provocative essays, followed by responses from Iowa farmers.

Several breakout sessions use a "fish bowl" format. A fish bowl features a center circle of people (all well-versed in an issue) surrounded by the audience. The set-up encourages active listening and sharing of experiences, knowledge and ideas.

Registration for the conference is $50, which includes the noon meal, an afternoon ice cream social, all conference materials and recyclable water bottle. Tour charges are $20 for half-day tours and $35 for the full-day tours (which includes lunch).

Questions can be directed to conference co-chairs Malcolm Robertson, (515) 294-1166, malcolmr@iastate.edu, or Laura Miller, (515) 294-5272, lwmiller@iastate.edu.

Heaven in Iowa! and other tours

That’s the destination for this tour – places in northeast Iowa that bring a taste of heaven to Iowa with their homemade pie and dairy-fresh ice cream. This full-day tour from Ames to Waterloo and back again is one of five Leopold Center anniversary tours on July 10. Space is limited, so register early. Other tours will take you to:

More about the midday outdoor festival

No celebration is complete without a festival, and that’s exactly what conference-goers will find on July 11. The courtyard behind the Scheman Building will be filled with interactive displays, demonstrations and equipment, plus an outdoor lunch.

Bring your camera to take a picture of yourself in “American Gothic.” See earthworms, switchgrass, how soil cores are taken and a machine that simulates rainfall. New fertilizer application technology, which began with a Leopold Center grant and has been selected among the top 10 agricultural inventions within the past 20 years, also will be on display with one of its inventors.

The Onion Creek Cloggers from central Iowa will perform, and two Iowans whose place-based food specialties are featured on a new web site, will offer samples.