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 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. Learn more about this project.

August 2012
Leopold Center Document The Long-Term Agroecological Research (LTAR) Experiment
Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture

This directory lists sources for seed, custom spraying and aerial application and equipment. It was compiled by Tomoko Ogaway and Patrick Burke, Practical Farmers of Iowa, for the Iowa Cover Crop Working Group, which is supported by the Leopold Center.

July 2012
Leopold Center Document Cover Crop Business Directory
Iowa Cover Crop Working Group

This brochure describes the yields, profitability and sustainability of low-input, high-diversity cropping systems from a long-term research project at the ISU Marsden Farm. Learn more about the project.

July 2012
Leopold Center Document Diversifying Corn-Soybean Rotations
Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture

This two-page color fact sheet higlights 11 conservation practices that landowners can adopt to protect and improve Iowa's water quality.

June 2012
Leopold Center Document Practices to Improve Water Quality
Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture

This is the final report to the Iowa legislature that describes activities of the Local Food and Farm Program during its first year of operation. The program seeks to promote local foods and increase farmer profitability in Iowa. The report outlines areas of emphasis planned for year two of the program. Learn more here.

June 2012
Leopold Center Document Local Food and Farm Program Final Report - 2012
Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture

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

This publication helps users to calculate high tunnel profitability for vegetable production. The information is based on  detailed production records of five farmers growing crops such as bell peppers, cucumbers, eggplant, herbs, lettuce and tomatoes, related to work that began with a Leopold Center marketing grant (M2009-16).

May 2012
Leopold Center Document Vegetable Production Budgets for a High Tunnel
Linda Naeve and Craig Chase, ISU Extension PM 3025

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