Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture

Pubs & Papers

Research can take many forms and lead to many different outcomes. The ultimate goal is sustainability – for the landscape, Iowa’s people and natural resources. Below is a list of intermediate outcomes of Leopold Center-supported projects, partnerships and activities. Included are extension publications, in-house research projects, informative presentations and other reports – all with some link to the Leopold Center.

All Pubs & Papers are PDFs, which require a free Adobe Acrobat Reader. Click on the image or title to view the PDF.

Leopold Center Document These materials were written, reviewed or presented by Leopold Center staff. All other materials are related or based on projects supported by the Leopold Center.

Pub & Papers here are sorted by date with the newest at the top. You can filter the list by selecting a topic area below and clicking "Apply." To see all again you can select "<Any>" as the topic, or click here. There is also an alphabetical listing available.

This is a directory of organizations and programs at Iowa State University that support local and regional food systems. The guide also lists courses for students who are interested in local food produciton. See the May 2012 news release about this new resource.

May 2012
Leopold Center Document Learning About Local at ISU
Ashlee Hespen and Craig Chase

Iowa’s courts and legislature have established a strong legal foundation for a duty of stewardship. The brochure was developed as part of the Sustainable Agricultural Land Tenure Initiative, and provides a brief history of how this foundation was laid as well as additional details on Iowa’s soil conservation law, conservation incentive programs, and federal conservation compliance laws.

April 2012
Iowa's Duty of Land Stewardship
Edward Cox, Drake Agricultural Law Center

The brochure was developed as part of the Sustainable Agricultural Land Tenure Initiative, and provides an introduction to land contracts, which have been used in recent years by operators who lack large amounts of capital and access to financing from lending institutions. The brochure outlines advantages and risks, and lists contacts for further information.

April 2012
Land Contracts for Beginning Farmers
Edward Cox, Drake Agricultural Law Center

The brochure was developed as part of the Sustainable Agricultural Land Tenure Initiative, and provides an overview of the Seasonal High Tunnel Initiative administered by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) as part of the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP).

April 2012
NRCS EQIP High Tunnels
Edward Cox, Drake Agricultural Law Center

This report presents analysis of data from the 2010 Farm Poll survey, which included a series of questions about the potential environmental and agronomic benefits of cover crops, barriers to and facilitators of cover crop use, and interest in learning more about them. More about the Iowa Farm and Rural Life Poll.

March 2012
Attitudes Toward Cover Crops in Iowa: Benefits and Barriers
J. Gordon Arbuckle, Jr., and John Ferrell, Iowa State University Extension PMR 1010

This report summarizes interviews with leaders of 15 local food groups participating in the Regional Food Systems Working Group. Leaders were asked about current and future projects, their vision for a regional food system, successes and challenges, how they measure progress, strategies and advice for other groups.

March 2012
Leopold Center Document The Current State of Regional Food System Work in Iowa
Joanna Hamilton, Leopold Center Graduate Student Intern

This white paper summarizes the findings of a Policy Initiative grant (P2010-02) that focused on how feed-in tariffs (FITs) can encourage farmers, homeowners and businesses to invest in small-scale renewable energy projects. News release

February 2012
Renewable Energy Incentive Rates: Potential Opportunities for Iowa Farmers
Nathaniel Baer, Iowa Environmental Council, Gregg Heide, Iowa Farmers Union, Rich Dana, National Center for Appropriate Technology, et. al.

This preliminary report to the Iowa legislature describes the activities of the Local Food and Farm Program from September 2011 to mid-January 2012. The program seeks to promote local foods and increase farmer profitability in Iowa. Learn more here.

January 2012
Leopold Center Document Local Food and Farm Program Preliminary Report
Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture

This seven-page fact sheet describes a system to catch, store and reuse rainwater for irrigation in high tunnels. It resulted from a Leopold Center Ecology Grant (E2011-14). Watch a video about this project.

January 2012
Leopold Center Document Rainwater Catchment from a High Tunnel for Irrigation Use
Shawn Shouse and Linda Naeve, Iowa State University Extension PM 3017

This tri-fold brochure describes the LTAR experiment, a side-by-side comparison of organic and conventional systems using identical crop varieties that began in 1998. Read a news release about this project.

November 2011
Leopold Center Document The Long-Term Agroecological Research (LTAR) Experiment
Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture