The 2024 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.
The four-page report begins with messages from the Leopold Center's Interim Director Stephen Dinsmore, and Adam Janke, who will serve the center in a new role as associate director. Janke, associate professor in the Department of Natural Resources Ecology and Management and state wildlife specialist for Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, seeks inspiration from a lesser-known quote by Aldo Leopold, “There are two things that interest me. The relation of people to each other, and the relation of people to the land.”
The relation of people to the land is highlighted in many ways in the report’s news briefs and research summaries:
- The 2024 Shivvers Lecture by researcher and organic pioneer John Reganold;
- LCSA Spencer award-winner and pollinator champion Jamie Beyers;
- New work underway to promote sustainable cocoa farming, led by Shawn Dorius, sociology and criminal justice, Iowa State, and graduate researcher Sydney Etten;
- An investigation of how floodplain plant communities can alleviate export of nitrogen and phosphorus downstream, by Peter Moore, natural resource ecology and management, Iowa State;
- A long-term look at how disturbance has impacted central Iowa forests, led by Jan Thompson, natural resource ecology and management, Iowa State;
- Leadership by Wallace Chairs for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State J. Arbuckle and Matt O’Neal, and the Graduate Program for Sustainable Agriculture;
- A study led by Billy Beck, natural resource ecology and management, seeking to quantify ecosystem goods and services of saturated riparian forest buffers (SRFB), a new conservation practice (and acronym) with many potential benefits for landowners; and
- Iowa Learning Farms’ 20 years of building “Culture of Conservation.”
A summary financial report also included shows the Leopold Center remains in good standing.
“We appreciate everyone who has contributed to this report, and especially to those who have supported the Leopold Center, including our donors in 2024,” Dinsmore said. “Private support allows us to continue the center’s mission – to identify and support ways to profitably manage land while conserving natural resources and reducing negative environmental and social impacts.”
Find the 2024 Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture Annual Report at www.leopold.iastate.edu.