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Panelists suggest creative directions for ag of the future
EDITOR'S NOTE: When the Sustainable Agriculture Student Association at ISU asked Center Director Jerry DeWitt to participate in this discussion, we thought it would be interesting to get a student perspective from the other side of the state.
You would think—if you lived in Iowa City like I do—that the nexus of environmentalism in the state straddles the Iowa River. However, after attending the “Future of Agriculture in Iowa” panel I was reminded of a quote from author Harold Stephens, who says: “There is a great difference between worry and concern. A worried person sees a problem, and a concerned person solves a problem.”
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While I’m not so sure my friends in Iowa City aren’t still at the worrying stage when it comes to “going green,” meetings like this one show that the agricultural community is truly concerned.
The event was a panel discussion among agricultural leaders and was moderated by Jerry Perkins, the farm editor for the Des Moines Register. Panelists included Aaron Putze, executive director-public relations officer for the Coalition to Support Iowa’s Farmers; Jerry DeWitt, director of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture; state Senator David Johnson, ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Committee; and Kevin Miskell, vice president of the Iowa Farmers Union.
The panel addressed many problems facing Iowa’s agricultural community—largely some of the same problems facing the environmental movement. Among them were food labeling laws, farmer autonomy, farm size, land use, locally produced food, energy and climate change. The discussion focused on how to increase Iowa’s ability to effect positive changes in each of these areas.
Meat production was an issue throughout the debate, with all panelists offering suggestions about how to increase the amount of Iowa beef consumed in the state.
“Under current law, you can take meat from other countries, mix it with fat scraps from the United States, and give it a ‘produced in the U.S.’ label,” said Miskell. He advocated a Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) law, which the other panelists agreed was a good idea.
“Go to the local locker where you know what the source of the meat is,” advised Senator Johnson. He also introduced the idea of state-funded local foods managers.
“We lack infrastructure to grow local food systems,” DeWitt agreed, adding that we needed to stress capacity-building to increase Iowa’s ability to distribute locally produced food throughout the state.
The intersection of farm size/farmer autonomy/farmer numbers was another issue of importance. “Twenty years ago, local farmers made decisions from start to finish,” said Miskell, “but now most decisions are made for them.” DeWitt tied the comment to recent research suggesting that as farm size increases, decision-making goes out of state.
But more importantly, rather than talking about the issues, they offered fresh ideas and innovative solutions to the problems. Here are a few:
- Establishing a connection between farmers and communities: “People need to have a connection with the people who grow their food,” said Putze. As consumers demand to know where their food comes from, it becomes more crucial for farmers to reach out to communities. Putze stressed the “importance of the farmer being ambassadors of their way of life.”
- Increasing crop diversity: DeWitt emphasized a “richness of diversity” as a solution to many of the problems facing Iowa agriculture. A return to more grass cover and grazing land not only will curb problems such as soil erosion, but will establish a connection between agriculture and the larger community. “When people see the richness of diversity, the birds and wildlife, there would not be neighbors against neighbors, communities against farmers,” said DeWitt.
- Increasing local autonomy: The importance of the small farmer was a constant theme throughout the discussion, with each panelist offering solutions to get the decision-making back in the hands of the farmer. One interesting example was the increase in use of windmills, which would save money on energy, and prevent the loss of profits to huge European wind farms that are increasingly investing in Iowa. Miskell said this is an “area we need to expand dramatically.”
- Education: Of course, being held at a college, education was stressed. But the ideas about education extended beyond an encouragement to join the farming community. “At a bare minimum, we need a very creative ag program in every school district,” said DeWitt, emphasizing the need for agriculture to be understood by all in the state, not just people in the field.
Perhaps Senator Johnson put it best when he described what the Iowa agricultural community wants to tap into most in the future. “I believe we’re going to see a Midwest revival,” he said, “People are sick of the coasts.”
While that might be a little optimistic, it’s refreshing to hear someone say something different other than echoing California’s rhetoric. I like to think of Iowa as a practical place. While people “on the coasts” worry about global warming, leaders of our various communities are in the concerned phase. The panelists at the “Future of Agriculture in Iowa” offered solutions in the area where we’ve always been the experts: on the farm.
Nicholaus Ohde is a senior in journalism and English at the University of Iowa. Although his parents did not farm, he grew up amidst the cornfields of Louisa County near Columbus Junction. He explains, "My dad is a wildlife biologist so I’ve always been interested in the relationship between agriculture and the environment. But what got me even more interested was the realization that I hadn’t seen a pig in years. Where are all the pigs? I am excited to see officials from the heart of farmland putting forth effort to ensure that we will have land not only for our wildlife, but for our farmers of the future. And maybe someday, sows and A-frames won’t just be stories my dad tells me."
Back to Spring 2008 Leopold Letter