Leopold Letter: Spring 2008t News

As most farmers know or at least suspect, establishing winter cover crops after harvest in the fall can be a challenge. The Leopold Center would like to learn about the successes and pitfalls in using cover crops from those who know first-hand, and then will share this hard-learned, how-to knowledge with others. What worked for you and what did not? If you have insight or experiences to share, please contact Sarah Carlson at Practical Farmers of Iowa, (515) 232-5661 x 105, or sarah@practicalfarmers.org. This project is part of the Iowa cover crops working group, led by PFI, the Leopold Center and researchers from the USDA-ARS National Soil Tilth Laboratory, ISU research and extension partners and the Iowa Learning Farm. The Iowa work supports activities of the Midwest Cover Crops Council, a regional working group of the Green Lands, Blue Waters consortium.

Leopold Center Director Jerry DeWitt was honored with the highest career award for any person working with Iowa State University Extension. He received the Iowa State University Award for Distinguished Service in Extension at the fall convocation in September. Most of his 35-year career at ISU has been with extension, beginning in 1972 as an entomologist. His work includes service as coordinator of the Pest Management and the Environment Program, assistant director of University Extension, and associate dean of the College of Agriculture. In each of his positions, he forged collaborations to strengthen farming, promote environmental stewardship and enhance the quality of life in rural Iowa. He was instrumental in creating a partnership between Extension and Practical Farmers of Iowa that earned a Rodale National Environmental Achievement Award.

Leopold Center Associate Director Rich Pirog is a member of the Farm-to-School Council in the Iowa Farm-to-School Program, coordinated by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and the Department of Education. The program, funded for the first time in 2007, connects farmers and schools for nutrition programs, farm visits and lunch programs. Pirog recently was asked to serve on the Program Strategy Advisory Committee for the National Farm to School Program.

The Small Meat Processors Working Group recently became part of the Value Chain Partnerships project coordinated by the Leopold Center. The working group led by the North Central Regional Center for Rural Development at ISU has met over the past 18 months to find resources at the local, state and national levels that will help Iowa’s small meat processors who want to begin, upgrade or expand their businesses. The group has published a resource guidebook that addresses five areas where meat lockers struggle: business planning and feasibility, financing and financial assistance, plant design, plant construction and labor. The book also explains rules and regulations that govern small meat plants and provides a list of contractors who have recently designed and/or constructed a meat processing facility. The guidebook can be downloaded at no charge at:

Iowa State University President Gregory Geoffroy has named Leopold Center Ecology Initiative Leader Jeri Neal to his Advisory Committee on Energy Conservation and Global Climate Change. The 16-member committee has been asked to advise the president on policies and activities that will reduce campus energy use and raise environmental awareness at the university. Neal also is part of the seven-member steering committee for the ISU Council on Sustainability.

A free Produce Profitability Calculator, on the web at www.iastatelocalfoods.org/calculator, helps producers create scenarios to inform their decisions about what and how much to plant as well as sales decisions such as how, where and when to sell, and setting a price. The tool was developed as part of a Leopold Center competitive grant to the Hotel, Restaurant and Institution Management (HRIM) program at ISU.

John Obrycki, a student at Miami of Ohio University, has been studying the Leopold Center as part of his senior honors project. He looked at 233 completed grants from the Leopold Center and analyzed their outreach activities. The projects were included in 161 conference proceedings, 2,000 posters and presentations, 457 field days, 65 thesis projects, 155 abstracts, 19 book chapters, 100 annual reports, 629 news articles and 113 extension publications. Twenty Leopold Center grants that resulted in 34 peer-reviewed publications had been cited more than 600 times.