NEWSLETTER OF THE LEOPOLD CENTER FOR
SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE, 126 Soil Tilth
Bldg., Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011-3120
Phone: (515) 294-3711
FAX (515) 294-9696
e-mail: leocenter@iastate.edu
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HEADLINES
CENTER/CARD CONFERENCE
INNOVATION AWARD
A BITTERSWEET SUMMER
NARROW STRIP INTERCROPPING
ANNUAL REPORT PUBLISHED
NEW FACT SHEETS
CENTRAL IOWA EDUCATION DELIVERY TEAM
CENTER PARTNER IN PFI PROJECT
DEWITT ASSUMES NEW DUTIES
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
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CENTER/CARD COSPONSOR CONFERENCE NOV. 18
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The Leopold Center is teaming up with the Center for
Agricultural and Rural Development and ISU
Extension to sponsor a Nov. 18 conference in Council
Bluffs entitled, "Changes and Choices for
Agriculture and Rural Communities."
Slated for the Robert Loost Continuing
Education Building at Iowa Western Community
College, Council Bluffs, the conference will address
issues key to the future of Iowa agriculture. Part of
CARD's policy conference series, the conference
includes several sessions from the Leopold Center's
annual conference, which was canceled last summer.
Among questions to be addressed:
* Who will farm the land as the nation's
agricultural sector experiences change? What are the
implications for rural communities?
* Will the 1995 Farm Bill lead us boldly into the
future or merely fine tune current policies?
* How does the push for agricultural sustainability
mesh with policy reform efforts?
* What will be the long-term impact of the 1993
flood on farm and rural life?
At the conference, farmers/producers, agribusinesses,
government officials, commodity group
representatives, and local development officials will
discuss the political, economic, social, and
environmental options facing agricultural policymakers.
The tentative program includes general sessions
on the 1995 Farm Bill, whether U.S. agriculture
and rural communities are on the right track, and
implications for the structore of Iowa agriculture and
rural communities.
The afternoon features two sets of concurrent
sessions, including:
* U.S. budget and commodity programs: How
much will USDA farm policy influence who will
farm
* Structure and sustainability implications of
coping with animal waste
* Structure and sustainability implications of
weed management methods
* Structure and sustainability implications of
nitrogen use in Iowa corn
* Structure and sustainability implications of corn
insect management
* The future of Iowa agriculture: perspectives
from the farm
The conference is locally sponsored by the Council
Bluffs Chamber of Commerce. Registration is $40;
reduced student and farmer fees are $20. After Nov.
11, registrations will go up $5. A cancellation fee
of $10 will be charged for cancellations made after
Nov. 11. To receive more information about the
conference, contact Judith Gildner, CARD, at (515)
294-6257; or Rich Pirog, Leopold Center, at (515)
294-3711.
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LEOPOLD CENTER RECOGNIZED FOR INNOVATION
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The Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture has
received $20,000 from the Ford Foundation in
recognition of its novel approach to preserving the
environment while encouraging profitable farming.
The Center was one of 25 finalists selected from more
than 1,600 applicants in the seventh annual
Innovations in State and Local Government Awards
Program coordinated by the John F. Kennedy
School of Government at Harvard University.
Dennis Keeney, Leopold Center Director, said, "We're
pleased that the Kennedy School of Government
has recognized the vision of the 1987 Iowa Legislature
which created the Leopold Center as part of the
Iowa Groundwater Protection Act. We're proud to
provide research and educational support toward
enhancing the profitability and sustainability of
agriculture in Iowa."
The Center participated in a rigorous process that
evaluated the Center on the basis of its novelty, how it
addresses important local or national problems, the
value to clients, and the degree to which it can be
replicated in other places.
In explaining its work to the awards program, the
Center highlighted its:
* voluntary, rather than regulatory, approach to
resource-conserving practices based on sound
science,
* interdisciplinary research teams of agricultural
scientists, educators, conservationists, and
farmers who develop new sustainable approaches to
farming,
* Competitive Grants Program, which has
provided more than $4.7 million to universities and
other nonprofit groups since its inception, and
* breadth of service, having supported work in 82
of Iowa's 99 counties in its first five years.
According to William G. Milliken, former governor of
Michigan and chair of the national committee,
"The finalists' projects exemplify many of the new
directions in public policy that are reinvigorating
America. They demonstrate imagination,
resourcefulness, and persistence in dealing with some
of the most complex challenges facing governments at all
levels."
The Center was one of 15 finalists receiving $20,000
grants. The other ten of the 25 finalists won
$100,000 grants to encourage replication of their
innovative ideas in other areas of the United States.
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A BITTERSWEET SUMMER
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By Dennis Keeney
Leopold Center Director
Summer was a bittersweet season for the Leopold
Center, and a very discouraging time for much of
flooded Iowa. Iowa made international news in ways
that we never desired or dreamed. The
repercussions on the state will rival those of the
financial crisis of the early 80's and the drought years of
1988 and 1989.
Among the flood casualties was the annual
Leopold Center conference. The first-rate program
the staff had laid out for the "Who will farm the land?
Changes and choices for Iowa agriculture" had
caught the imagination of farmers and farm leaders.
Preregistration numbers were growing at a brisk
clip, indicating that interest was high. We were hoping
for record attendance.
Then the floods came, the result of torrential
rains over already saturated ground. The Iowa State
Center(including the Scheman Continuing Education
Building, where the meeting was to be held)
was severely damaged by flash flooding. The City of
Des Moines lost its water and power. Roads
throughout the area were closed, and more rain was
anticipated. Many potential participants had
personal crises to attend to. Travel was difficult and
potentially dangerous, and thousands faced loss of
their homes, crops, and livelihoods. In light of this
overwhelming natural disaster, canceling the
conference was a difficult but sensible decision.
We are already looking toward next year and to
other ways we can address the critical questions
addressed by the canceled conference. We will
cooperate with other conferences yet this year to
continue to bring the issue to the public. For example,
some of the topics developed for the conference
have been incorporated into a Nov. 18 conference in
Council Bluffs, cosponsored with the Center for
Agricultural and Rural Development .
* * *
The sweet part of our bittersweet summer was the
national recognition received by the Center from the
Innovations in State and Local Government Program of
the Ford Foundation and Harvard University.
The Center was selected from more than 1,600
applicants as one of 25 innovative initiatives in
addressing public needs at the state and local level.
This was the decision of a group of nationally
recognized panelists who thoroughly reviewed the
Center's programs. This honor involves a monetary
award as well as national recognition. The Center will
work with Ford Foundation representatives for
the next year to develop ways to share the Center's
innovative features with other jurisdictions.
This award is a recognition of the innovative
legislation by Iowa's leaders in the 1987
Groundwater Protection Act and the forward-thinking
programs that the Center has instituted over the
past six years. It is an important milestone for the
Center, for Iowa State University, for the State of
Iowa, and perhaps most importantly for agriculture,
including its people and its environment.
Our hearts are with all Iowans who have
suffered with the rains. The Center will be working
with you as we continue our journey toward a
sustainable future for this state.
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NARROW STRIP INTERCROPPING CREATING
WIDER WINDOWS OF OPPORTUNITY
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By Elizabeth Weber
Technical Editor
You could say that Richard Cruse and Douglas Karlen
are bucking the system. Actually, they are
promoting an alternative system to the continuous row
crop production that has long dominated Iowa's
agriculture.
Cruse, an ISU research agronomist, and Doug
Karlen, a soil scientist of the USDA-Agricultural
Research Service, National Soil Tilth Laboratory, lead
the Leopold Center's interdisciplinary Cropping
Systems Research Issue Team. Their goals are to
design, test, and deliver to farmers a cropping system
that is more environmentally sustainable than and just
as profitable as current conventional cropping
methods.
In narrow strip intercropping, three or more
crops are grown in the same field, at the same time,
in contiguous strips. The strips, which are typically
four or six rows wide, must be of equal width to
accommodate the rotation scheme, and farmers must
choose a strip width that is compatible with their
field equipment. Strips typically consist of corn,
soybeans, and a small grain, such as oats or wheat,
interseeded with a legume, such as alfalfa or berseem
clover.
What makes the team's approach a true system
are the myriad interactions that occur among
these crops. Weed control, insect behavior, tillage type,
disease, economics, microclimates within the
strips, water use, conservation (including the strips'
effect on runoff), energy, and economic tradeoffs
make for an intriguing and almost infinite number of
variables. Most of these variables differ from those
characteristic of traditional fields.
By studying these variables in numerous fields
over the past five years, the team has accumulated
many "field years" of data.
The team has determined the following:
* The strip intercropping system has greater
production potential than do traditional systems.
* The labor requirement is no greater than that for
traditional systems, but strong motivation and
management skills are important to success.
* Corn rootworm management may require more
attention than it does in large fields with similar
crop rotations (because the corn strip is adjacent to the
previous year's corn strip, allowing overwintering
rootworms to burrow "next door").
* While plant disease potential depends on
weather, it has had minimal effect on crop yield.
* Microclimate variations are greater than in
traditional large fields; they help to explain the
beneficial effects of crop yields on strip borders.
* Farmers believe this system warrants additional
research.
Progress has been steady over the five years since the
project was first funded by the Leopold Center as
a competitive grant. As of spring 1992, however, the
team was still searching for the best legume to use:
namely, one that would resist insects and disease, fix
nitrogen, compete well during hot, dry summers,
not overwinter (and interfere with the corn planted in
that strip the following spring), and ideally, even
produce seed to save the expense of purchasing it each
year. Alfalfa's expense and tendency to
overwinter eliminated it as a possibility. Berseem
clover now appears to be a much better legume,
particularly if that strip's crop is used to feed livestock.
(Berseem can outcompete the oats, however, in
cases where the oat crop is intended for harvest as grain
in the fall).
Until this year, the small grain/interseeded
legume strip compromised the system's potential
value to Iowa farmers. Earlier strip cropping used only
corn and soybeans. While this combination
resulted in elevated corn yields, soybean yields were
depressed. Adding the third strip (the small
grain/legume) still results in high corn yields while
improving the soybean response and increasing
small grain yield over that occurring in traditional
fields. Finding a strong enough market for the small
grain, Cruse believes, will make the difference between
a marginally viable system and one that can
offer farmers an economic return greater than that of
conventional crops.
Cruse and Karlen addressed this issue in
summer 1993 by cooperating with the Leopold Center's
animal management issue team, led by ISU animal
scientist Jim Russell. Working with members of
Practical Farmers of Iowa including northeast Iowa
farmer Tom Frantzen, the oat/legume strip was
green chopped and fed to livestock instead of harvested
for grain. (In green chopping, green forage is
cut with a field chopper and hauled to lots or barns in
lieu of pasturing.) This new twist on the system's
concept dramatically increases its economic viability on
farms that integrate livestock, provided the
manure is cycled back onto the strips.
The strip system, which leaves crop residue on
the ground over the winter, offers great potential
for reducing erosion by wind and water, an important
consideration. And, contrary to common
perceptions, one need not be a ridge-tiller to use the
strips, either to control weeds or to precisely mark
out the strips at the beginning of each cropping season.
Cruse says, "Farmers have a lot of ingenuity.
I've seen people use some pretty simple methods
of marking the strips that worked." In fact, Cruse gives
a great deal of credit to the farmers with whom
he has collaborated. "Strip intercropping is a great
opportunity for a farmer who really enjoys the
thinking aspect of farm management," he adds.
Cruse offers a few management considerations for
people interested in trying the system:
* Strip intercropping offers an opportunity to
increase returns and improve resource use through
management and ingenuity rather than increased capital
input.
* The system can accept herbicide use, but a
herbicide program must be planned carefully. For
example, chemical drift to the adjacent crop strip must
be avoided with some products. Again, Cruse
has observed innovative farmers master this challenge
by customizing spray equipment.
* Optimal strip width has yet to be determined.
The real "bang for the buck" lies with the borders
for corn and small grain. And the narrower the strips,
the more numerous the borders. Soybeans seem
to perform better with wider strips, however. So far,
individual farmer goals and equipment size have
dictated strip widths.
* Headlands to accommodate machinery traffic at
the ends of fields are normally seeded to forage
crops. With the right widths, headlands can be used for
"set-aside" or harvested for livestock feed.
The team has also studied the strips' role as food, cover,
and habitat for wildlife. ISU animal ecologist
and team member Louis Best secured additional
funding for studying this aspect of the system: Best is
in the second year of a two-year grant from the ACE
(Agriculture in Concert with the Environment)
program funded under the U.S. Department of
Agriculture's LISA (now SARE) program.
Another team member's work involves the
human aspects of the system. Steve Padgitt, an ISU
sociologist, conducted numerous focus group sessions
among farmers during 1990 to determine their
interest in the system. Their nearly unanimous opinion
was that the system was a worthwhile use of
research money and deserved continued study.
In addition to their economic advantages, the
strips border on beautiful. "Farmers do care about
aesthetics," Cruse says, "but beauty alone will not pay
the bills."
It doesn't need to. The strips can provide Iowa
farmers with a sound economic return, increase
diversification and flexibility, reduce soil erosion, and
offer more diverse wildlife habitat--as well as
protect water quality by reducing chemical inputs. The
visual appeal is just a fringe benefit.
Editor's note: The Center sponsors six such teams of
faculty researchers and extension personnel,
conservationists, and farmers. The Center-supported
team projects, renewable each year, can take a
long-range planning approach to problems. Other
teams work on integrated pest management, animal
management, human systems, animal waste
management, and agroecology.
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ANNUAL REPORT PUBLISHED
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The Center's 1992 annual report, "Five Years into the
Journey. . . Marking the Milestones" is printed and
on its way to readers across Iowa. This 28-page
document describes progress made in 1992 through the
Center's activities and programs.
The report also outlines the advisory board's
contributions, updates readers about the work of the
Center's six interdisciplinary research issue teams, and
checks in with the investigators of nearly 50
research, education, and demonstration projects. Photos
and illustrations contributed by these
investigators help bring to life the stories of their work.
At the conclusion of its first five years, the
Leopold Center is undergoing a comprehensive
review and strategic planning process. In recognition of
this milestone mark, the report contains a
special insert: a retrospective timeline that recalls key
events in the Center's five-year history. This
feature attempts to answer questions frequently
addressed to the Center about the origins and evolution
of its programs and activities.
Copies of the annual report are free. If you have
not received one and would like to, call the
Center at (515) 294-3711.
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NEW FACT SHEETS COVER CORN BORER CONTROL, SEED COATINGS
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The Leopold Center and ISU Extension
Communications recently released two new fact sheets
for distribution statewide through Extension. The state Soil
Conservation Service has also placed a copy of each sheet
at its district offices.
Part of the sustainable agriculture fact sheet
series (SA-#) established at ISU in 1991, these
sheets describe some promising new avenues for
farming profitably and sustainably.
The first sheet (SA-4) describes new
possibilities for biological control of European corn
borer.
The information it contains emerged from a research
project that tested a commercially available
microbial insecticide, Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis), in
conjunction with a naturally occurring fungus,
Beauveria bassiana, which also kills the European corn
borer. This combined approach is desirable
because Bt alone is not effective against larger larvae.
In addition to addressing environmental
concerns, such natural approaches are potentially
valuable because current chemical insecticides used
against this pest are not effective once larvae have
tunneled into the stalk. Following additional study,
these biological controls may be used either alone,
together, or in conjunction with a chemical
insecticide to help farmers save time and money now
spent on chemical insecticide applications.
The other fact sheet (SA-5) offers good news for
farmers who are exposed to chemical dust
clouds whenever they open bags of seed corn treated
with the powdered fungicide Captan. Polymeric
film seed coatings, already in use in Europe, can deliver
fungicide to the seed without creating the
powdery problem Captan poses. An Iowa equipment
manufacturer is already modifying machinery that
will be able to perform this coating process cost-
effectively. This fact sheet describes additional ways
that this technology may serve farmers. For example,
the coatings might be used to control timing of
germination and transport small amounts of systemic
insecticides.
To obtain single copies of either sheet, contact the
Leopold Center, 126 Soil Tilth Lab, Iowa State
University, Ames, Iowa, 50011-3120, (515) 294-3711;
FAX (515) 294-9696. To obtain multiple copies,
contact Extension Publications Distribution, Iowa State
University, Ames, Iowa, 50011, (515) 294-5247
and reference the SA number cited above for each. SA
fact sheets 1 (Leopold Center Summary of 1990
Completed Research Projects, October 1991), 2
(Practical Farmers of Iowa--Reducing Weed Pressure in
Ridge Till, July 1992), and 3 (Leopold Center:
Nitrogen and Water Quality--Studying the Connections)
are also available upon request.
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CENTRAL IOWA EDUCATION TEAM HAS NEW PROJECTS
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The Leopold Center's Central Iowa Educational
Delivery Team (EDT) continues to evolve with several
new projects in 1993.
The team, led by ISU Extension crop specialist
John Creswell, has continued using its "Iowans
Living with Nature" display which highlights common
environmental concerns for rural and urban
landowners. The display has been featured at county
and state fairs, environmental events in malls, and
lawn and garden shows. The Polk County Master
Gardeners have showcased the display at several
events in the Des Moines area.
In addition, Creswell has recently developed a
computer spreadsheet designed to help
homeowners apply the correct amount of fertilizer or
pesticide to their lawns. "The computer program is
a good fit with the display at many of the urban events
at which we exhibit," says Creswell. To date, 30
ISU Extension staff across the state have requested the
computer spreadsheet.
The Central EDT has expanded its efforts to
include field demonstrations with the construction
and placement of siltation boxes in several central Iowa
locations. The boxes, designed by Creswell and
ISU agronomist Rick Cruse, help collect sediment
runoff from agricultural fields. One box is buried at
the edge of the field, and another at the end of the filter
strip, to help landowners visualize the
effectiveness of filter strips in highly erodible fields.
The summer floods have caused tremendous soil
erosion problems in central Iowa, and Creswell feels the
boxes help demonstrate the value of filter strips
in reducing erosion.
Another EDT operates in East Central Iowa
under the leadership of ISU Extension specialists
Jim Fawcett and Greg Brenneman. both teams were
established in 1991 to develop and implement new
ways of communicating Leopold Center research
findings.
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CENTER PARTNER IN PFI PROJECT
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The Leopold Center is collaborating with Practical
Farmers of Iowa and ISU Extension on a community-
based agriculture project supported by the W.K.
Kellogg Foundation.
The Leopold Center is supplementing the four-
year, $729,074 grant to PFI by contributing 10
percent of the salary for an organizational development
specialist, time from a Leopold Center staff
representative on the implementation team, and
assistance with an annual group meeting conducted as
part of the project.
The project's purpose is to form community-
based groups that will encourage farming systems
that are productive, profitable, environmentally-sound,
and supportive of rural communities.
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DEWITT ASSUMES NEW DUTIES
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Dr. Jerry DeWitt, Director of Agriculture for ISU
Extension and Leopold Center Advisory Board
member has recently assumed a part-time USDA
Extension Service assignment to encourage sustainable
agriculture programs. DeWitt assumed the new duties
Sept. 1 and will continue through June 30, 1994
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CALENDAR OF EVENTS
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Nov. 18, 1993-- Fall Agricultural Policy Conference,
"Changes and Choices for Agriculture and Rural
Communities," Robert Loost Continuing Education
Building, Iowa Western Community College,
Council Bluffs. Sponsored by Center for Agricultural
and Rural Development, Leopold Center for
Sustainable Agriculture, ISU Extension, and Council
Bluffs Chamber of Commerce. For registration
information, contact Karen Jacobsen, Council Bluffs
Chamber of Commerce, (712) 325-1000.
Nov. 29-30, 1993 -- Farming 2000 Expo, Hilton Coliseum,
Ames. Sponsored by Iowa Soil and Water District
Commissioners and numerous other organizations.
Exhibits, educational presentations, demonstrations.
For more information, contact Eldon Weber (515) 294-
0893.