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Ron Rosmann
Maria and Ron Rosmann
Paul Mugge (right) addresses the
Rosmann family.
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2006 Spencer Award for Sustainable Agriculture
Presentation at the Iowa Organic
Conference Northwest Iowa farmer Paul Mugge,
who also chairs the Leopold Center advisory board,
summed up the leadership shown by Ron and Maria
Rosmann in sustainable agriculture . |
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Rosmann, who has testified five times on agricultural issues before Senate and House subcommittees, presented his own beliefs as they related to the land ethic, first proposed by Aldo Leopold.
Leopold wrote that "health is the capacity of the land for
self-renewal," Rosmann said. "To me, self-renewal is the
capacity of the land to regenerate itself through the
diversity of farming practices that are employed on a
healthy farm. Much of the success of a healthy farm depends
on keeping the loop or the quilt design closed as much as
possible so that the pattern repeats itself in the form of
resilience, resistance and self-renewal. This is one of the
principles that guides the raising of healthy breeds of
crops, livestock, and people for that matter.
Rosmann said policies and programs need to address this need
for self-renewal. "I'm not talking about just for our soil,
which so often narrowly defines conservation," he said. "We
need to find new ways to conserve and renew people and rural
communities, local food economies, neighborliness and
interdependence with one another."
A conversation with the Rosmann family [Fall 2006 Leopold Letter]