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Iowa Lawmakers Push to Dismantle Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture
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Cost-Cutting Sustainability
Iowa Lawmakers Push to Dismantle Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture
, DTN Ag Policy Editor
4/19/2017 | 8:44 AM CDT
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Field days on crop rotations and organic farming have been among the
mainstays for the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State
University. Iowa lawmakers, however, have voted to eliminate the center
after 30 years. (Courtesy photo)

OMAHA (DTN) -- Just three weeks ago, the Leopold Center for Sustainable
Agriculture at Iowa State University was celebrating its 30th anniversary
with guest lecturers, including some of the former state legislators who
helped create the center.

But in a surprise move last week at the Iowa statehouse, lawmakers voted to
eliminate the sustainable agriculture research center by zeroing out the
Leopold Center's entire funding stream.

Iowa officials started the center, which is named after Iowa native and
famed ecologist Aldo Leopold, during the 1980s farm crisis as a way to help
educate farmers on alternative crops, livestock practices and conservation.
Its programs focus heavily on organics, cover crops and water quality
issues within the state. In recent years, the center has also worked on
long-term climate research, local foods, soil health and biodiversity. The
center also funds small grants to farmers and local projects.

Supporters note that Leopold Center's cutting-edge work may not have an
immediate effect, but it eventually has a greater influence on farmers down
the line. The Leopold Center, for instance, was championing the benefits of
cover crops long before cover crops became cool.

Despite a strong showing of support at a hearing Monday morning, the Iowa
Senate voted later that day on an appropriations bill that would eliminate
roughly $1.5 million that goes to the Leopold Center and shift its funding
to the Iowa Nutrient Research Center, which was created by the state
Legislature in 2013. The Iowa House of Representatives followed suit on
Tuesday.

In a debate, some lawmakers argued the center had fulfilled its mission, or
that there is so much other research taking place that the consequences of
losing the Leopold Center wouldn't be that dire. Others argued that not
every farmer in Iowa has thousands of acres of land. The center has helped
those who farm with fewer acres and organic farmers. Furthermore, the
conservation research coming out of the Leopold Center has helped farmers
statewide.

The votes to terminate the sustainability center came just days before the
69th anniversary of Leopold's death. The legislation now goes to Iowa Gov.
Terry Branstad, who actually signed the original law in 1987, creating the
Leopold Center.

"We were blindsided by this," Mark Rasmussen, director of the Leopold
Center, told DTN. "We don't know where this came from."

The center survives on a tax set on fertilizer, which generates roughly
$1.5 million that goes to the center, as well as a $397,000 line item from
the Iowa Board of Regents. Under the legislation, both of those funding
streams would be eliminated.

Aaron Lehman, president of the Iowa Farmers Union, also serves on the
advisory board of the Leopold Center and testified Monday before the
Legislature to save the funding. The center had a lot of support at the
hearing, he said. Lehman said eliminating the center "would be a
devastating blow to the work of family farmers in Iowa."

Lehman noted that family farmers are facing more financial stress and
looking for some innovative solutions to stay in business. At the same
time, farmers are being asked to do more to address issues such as water
quality in the state.

"So as both of those things are happening, we're taking tools out of their
tool box," Lehman said. "All of the great research that comes out of the
Leopold Center focuses on on-the-farm practices. And the board that
oversees the research and helps guide the research is made up of a broad
spectrum of farmers. It's very farm and field focused, and this is
absolutely the wrong time to take that innovation away from us."

Lehman noted that farmers union leaders in other states often talk about
the work of the Leopold Center as well. An Iowa State University archive
website shows that studies and reports from the center have been downloaded
more than 25,000 times.

Lehman and others indicated the elimination of the center is a political
move by Iowa Republicans, given that the center was created when Democrats
ran the Legislature, and the Leopold Center's mission was largely protected
when Democrats still controlled at least one chamber of the Legislature.

"It kind of goes back to politics. It was one party who set this up, and
even though there are many, many positive things that developed, the other
party thinks things should be changed," said Doug Gronau, another farmer
from Vail, Iowa, who chairs the center's advisory board. He added, "The
Leopold Center has done a lot of good things. Some of the things they have
done are not necessarily politically appealing to a lot of folks, and
that's the gist of what is going on here right now. It really does not have
a lot to do with the amount of money they are asking for, or even the
effectiveness of it."

Gronau said the center's work on crop production and water quality became
the basis for Iowa's nutrient management strategy. Tile line buffers and
wood chips for bioreactors were among some of the early items studied by
the Leopold Center to address water quality, he said.

"The original grants that the items in the strategy had, probably 80%, were
mostly started by the Leopold Center," Gronau said. "The tile line buffers
-- this was stuff that was totally unheard of. It was unnecessary, why are
you doing this? Well now, it's a tool in the toolbox to reduce nitrates.
It's these types of things that the Leopold Center is known for."

Citing the various work by the Leopold Center, Gronau said he thinks state
officials are focused on other issues involving the center. "I think the
old saying is, 'throwing the baby out with the bath water,' and I hope they
don't do that. I hope they recognize the positive things that the Leopold
has done without getting politics involved."

Gronau is also the Iowa Farm Bureau representative on the board, but Laurie
Johns, a spokeswoman for the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, said, "Iowa Farm
Bureau doesn't have a policy on funding the Leopold Center, so we are
staying out of that budget discussion at the Statehouse. It's up to
lawmakers to make hard decisions and how it all goes at the end of the day
is up to them. Our goals remain the same as in recent years: to seek fair,
sustainable increased conservation funding to continue to momentum that is
underway in the Water Quality Initiative."

Despite having to potentially find new jobs at Iowa State University for
most of his staff, Rasmussen said he has been pleased by the public support
that generated a lot of social media and a petition supporting the center
in just about one week's time. Further, there have been editorials in Iowa
newspapers and op-eds from former and current students.

"They jumped out there on Facebook and Twitter and other social media and
did a really great job in one week's time," Rasmussen said.

Rasmussen added that eliminating the funding for "sustainable agriculture"
won't curb the growing drive and focus on sustainability that was just
beginning to develop when Iowa took a leap to create a center focused on
the concept.

"The movement on sustainability is going to continue, and it is needed,"
Rasmussen said.

Chris Clayton can be reached atChris. Clayton@dtn.com
Follow him on Twitter @ChrisClaytonDTN