Leopold Center deals farmers a full hand

I remember from 30 years ago that small round table in a hot room in the State Capitol and a lot of background chatter. Paul Johnson was two feet from my face across a three-foot table. Ralph Rosenberg, Sue Mullins and David Osterberg rode shotgun and I had no path to escape. John Pesek from Iowa State’s agronomy department was my “body guard.” It was a “memorable discussion” and lasted an eternity. Paul did the “discussing,” and I did the listening. Paul was explaining to me politely, with fire in his eyes, the “unique opportunity” for ISU to commit to a new center — the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture.

Were we up to the challenge at ISU or should it go elsewhere? Would we step up to the plate and work on what needs to be done for water quality and Iowa farmers? Paul and this bipartisan committee of four wanted practical research and education to solve the challenges, not regulation. We represented ISU. The answer was yes. And, 30 years later, it is still yes.

My thoughts today are not so much directed to those who would strip the Leopold Center of its funding or abruptly shutter its doors after three decades of very creative, fast-moving problem-solving for our farmers. Rather, I am speaking to our Iowa farmers who will face the aftermath of such legislation with fewer tools and more regulations and paperwork concerning water quality and practices on their farms. Do farmers fully understand how they will be doing business in the coming years if the Leopold Center is erased?

The Leopold Center works within the framework of established processes and challenges of a major land grant university, but has the distinct advantage of not being an academic department dealing with a faculty, tenure, publishing mandates and other joys of academia. We are in the business of solving today’s problems today. We are flexible and responsive. No other university unit or department rivals how the center successfully solicits farmer-driven ideas to solve today’s problems in Iowa agriculture. We do it openly and we listen. The center can respond quickly to farmer problems or issues that do not require lengthy processes, committees or state/USDA oversight. The center’s work is not a plan on paper established by a consensus committee to tackle a problem. It is a dynamic entity that is responsible to farmer ideas and needs.

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As the Groundwater Protection Act enabling legislation in 1987 directed, the center has always interpreted its mandate and responsibility to identify and tackle those issues that may not rise to the level of action on campus with faculty and graduate students in their current work plans. The center was to do the things that were not being done or were not getting attention and support for a variety of reasons.

So our Iowa farmers now face possibly a more grim reality for practices and approaches in water quality and soil conservation if the center is hamstrung or shuttered. Basically more soil- and water-related regulations will be required and implemented due to increased public perceptions, expectations and pressure. I don’t see it going the other way.

So what cards will the farmers bring to the table to counter more regulations? What hand will they play? Will they be able to say: “Hold off. We are now working with ISU and the Leopold Center, which are supporting cutting-edge research and delivering new workable tools and practices to protect water quality today.” How?

• By creating nationally recognized nitrogen spike applicators?
• By installing bioreactors to reduce nitrogen from moving into groundwater?
• By reducing nitrogen and nutrients by 85-90 percent by installing simple buffer strips near creeks?
• By establishing profitable cover crops and tillage systems to retain the soil in place?
• By adopting better grazing practices with small cow-calf herds in southern Iowa to limit sediment in surface water?
• By creating strip filters across vulnerable soils and slopes to protect water quality?

Or do we force our Iowa farmers to show up at the table with a weak hand to simply declare “mission accomplished”? Do we send our farmers to fight with an empty tool box or do we ask the Leopold Center to undertake creative practical solutions and roll them out quickly across Iowa fields by ISU Extension, commodity partners, farm organizations, and Soil and Water Conservation Districts each year?

So, what it really means is that the Leopold Center is one battle-tested Iowa entity that has a proven track record and the ability to quickly place more farmer-driven and field-ready tools in grower hands that ultimately can stave off increased regulations. The center today provides our Iowa farmers with a full deck of options before more regulations pile on. It is the time-honored and proven approach of first, practical research and education before turning to regulation. (This is what Johnson was “explaining” to me 30 years ago). Which future path are we suggesting our farmers take: practical and creative research and education now or even more regulations down the road? Do we give our farmers “hope” and a full tool box? Or do we accept what others say from afar on what must be done between our fence rows, across waterways and sloping creek banks?

During my 38 years with ISU Extension and five years as director at the Leopold Center, I have always had great confidence and quiet admiration for our farmers and their ability to solve problems with simple on-farm research and education. I listened to farmers. The Leopold Center listens to farmers. The General Assembly must support farmers and not deal them an empty hand.

The continued support of the Leopold Center will better arm thousands of farmers as they struggle to protect water quality. Let’s make sure we fully understand the long-term ramifications of sending our farmers to the table with an empty hand. Give them tools. Give them hope. Deal them a full hand. The Leopold Center deserves our continued support; failure to do so now will further impair our waters and frustrate generations of Iowa farmers.

JERRY DeWITT of Holly Springs, N.C., was director of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture from 2005 to 2010.