Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture

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Leopold Center News

Group listening to presenter at horticulture Farm with plastic mulch over onion starts.
July 9, 2025

Through in-person and virtual discussions with farmers, extension specialists and each other, the unique Land Stewardship Leadership Academy (LSLA)  helps early-career natural resource professionals in Iowa gain knowledge to build relationships with farmers and increase confidence in their skills as conservation professionals. Inspiration for LSLA came from awareness, backed up by research, that many people working at the interface between agriculture and conservation lack an agricultural background. LSLA is funded with support from ISU Extension and Outreach, the North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program, the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, registration fees and travel and staff time of the participating organizations. Read the story

Man with gray hat, navy t-shirt sitting on hill with walking stick, prairie smoke in foreground
January 7, 2025

Award-winning scientist and pioneering farmer Jonathan Lundgren, will present the 2025 Shivvers Lecture on Feb. 5, at 7:30 p.m., in the Sun Roon of Iowa State University’s Memorial Union. Lundgren, an agroecologist, farmer, rancher and beekeeper, is executive director of Ecdysis Foundation and CEO of Blue Dasher Farm, Estilline, South Dakota. His research and education programs aim to help applied science evolve in ways that foster the evolution of a regenerative food system. 
View a recording of this event at: https://vimeo.com/1076187677?share=copy

Woman at edge of corn field speaking to group on haywagon
September 13, 2024

Kathleen Delate and Sabrina Ruis discuss the organic corn crop this year, which is showing great promise, despite excessive rains in May, delaying planting and weed management.

 

Cover of 2023 Leopold Center report
August 9, 2024

AMES, Iowa -- The 2023 annual report from the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, released this week, reviews an active year of Leopold-supported activities and research.

 

 

Of Interest

An Iowa Learning Farms Virtual Field Field Day, Woodchips and Water Quality: Exploring Species and Chipping Methods to Maximize Bioreactor Efficiency presented by Iowa State researchers Billy Beck and Michelle Soupir highlights findings from a project supported by the LCSA and others (February 2024). 

Findings from a LCSA-supported grant were reported in the article Cover crop mixtures versus single species: Water quality and cash crop yield by Emily Waring, Mark Licht, Elizabeth Ripley, Ann Staudt, Sara Carlson and Matthew Helmers, published in the Journal of Soil and Water Conservation (December 2022). 

10-year field-scale study on the effects of winter rye cover crops on corn and soybean yields showed no significant impacts on cash crop yields attributable to cover crop use. The study by Iowa Learning Farms and Practical Farmers of Iowa was supported by state funders and LCSA.