Leopold Letter: Fall 2008 News

We've added a new page to the Leopold Center web site to help users quickly find results of Leopold Center research. Summaries of more than 200 completed research project supported by the Leopold Center's competitive grants program are now organized by topic. Topics range from animal management and forages to energy and weed control. The summaries are condensed from longer, more detailed final reports submitted by the principal investigators. The Leopold Center web site also uses the popular Google search engine.

The Leopold Center's Summer 2008 Request for Pre-proposals (RFP) resulted in 62 submissions related to projects with first-year funding of more than $1.4 million. The submissions included 25 pre-proposals in the Ecology Initiative, 28 in the Marketing and Food Systems Initiative, seven in the Policy Initiative and two that crossed several initiatives. The requests have been reviewed by Leopold Center Advisory Board and staff as part of multi-step process that also includes out-of-state reviewers who will examine the full proposals. New projects will be announced in early 2009.

Just in time for the cover crop planting season, the Midwest Cover Crops Council has launched a new web site to encourage widespread adoption of cover crops. The site, www.mccc.msu.edu, includes crop-by-crop information, links to relevant publications, and a survey designed to gather information about cover crops from farmers, researchers, agency personnel and others. The Leopold Center is a member of the Council, which plans to develop a web-based Cover Crops Selector tool.

The Leopold Center has received a one-year grant to lead a regional team in moving local food beyond the direct-to-consumer realm into larger-scale, wholesale and retail channels in the Midwest. The Leopold Center will be part of the National Good Food Network, an initiative of the Wallace Center at Winrock International that is funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. The network is establishing regional steering committees to create partnerships across non-profit and for-profit sectors and cultivate learning networks. The network's goal is to build a new kind of food supply chain that incorporates stewardship of the environment, healthy food, fair labor practices, equal access and strong local economies. Other projects are in Salinas and Los Angeles, California.; Albuquerque and Santa Fe, New Mexico; Abingdon, Virginia; Belchertown, Massachusetts; and Heartland, Vermont. Leopold Center Associate Director Rich Pirog is part of the Good Food Network's 17-member advisory board.

Susan Jutz, who operates a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) enterprise near Solon, is the new representative for Practical Farmers of Iowa on the Leopold Center Advisory Board. She replaces Sutherland farmer Paul Mugge, who had served the past 12 years.

Iowa Food Cooperative

A new web-based ordering system that will bring food directly from farmer to consumer will begin taking orders in October. Each month, farmers will enter a list of their products on-line. During the ordering period (generally two weeks) shoppers will place their orders via the web site, www.iowafood.org. Distribution will occur monthly at the Iowa Food Cooperative location at Merle Hay Mall in Des Moines. Farmers will bring their products in the morning, and shoppers will pick up their orders in the afternoon. The coop requires an initial membership fee and annual fee. Groundwork for the coop was part of a Leopold Center competitive grant, with support also provided by Practical Farmers of Iowa, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and Blooming Prairie Foundation.

Farmers who have suffered losses due to the 2008 storms and flooding may still apply for assistance from the Iowa Farm Disaster Relief Coalition, a collaboration of more than a dozen Iowa sustainable agriculture and faith-based organizations. Farmers may apply for up to $500 to help offset household expenses. Applications will be reviewed as quickly as possible. A second round of funds is being made available with an October 31 deadline. Applications and eligibility criteria are on the web at: http://www.iowafarmrelief.org.

Bringing local food to the world

Reading an encyclopedia will not lead you to local foods, but you can learn more about the history and current markets for what has become a national trend. World Book Publishing invited Leopold Center Associate Director Rich Pirog to write an article for its 2009 Science Yearbook. Pirog's five-page report, entitled "Local Foods: Farm fresh and environmentally friendly," appears in the consumer science section of World Book's annual information supplement. Pirog discusses the U.S. food marketing system and impetus for the local food movement. Read the article on the Leopold Center web site at: http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/research/marketing_files/WorldBook.pdf

The Plenty 20

Distinguished Fellow Fred Kirschenmann was selected as one of the 20 "most dynamic individuals dedicated to greening the planet" by a nationwide lifestyle magazine, Plenty. Also on the Plenty 20 list were former vice president Al Gore, author Michael Pollan, architect William McDonough and NASA scientist and Iowan James Hansen. The account is in the October/November 2008 issue.

Farms and fun

The Leopold Center is supporting a statewide project designed to increase agritourism, a growing segment of the rural economy. Enterprises include bed and breakfast operations; Christmas tree farms; farmers’ markets, fruit and vegetable u-picks; hiking, hunting/fishing, and viewing mazes for a fee; retail stores; trail riding and wineries. Producers are encouraged to list their agritourism operations on a new web site hosted by Iowa State University Extension, http://www.visitiowafarms.org.