3/27/01

Contacts:
Fred Kirschenmann, Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, (515) 294-3711
Laura Miller, Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, (515) 294-5272
Brian Meyer, Agriculture Communications, (515) 294-0706

ISU'S LEOPOLD CENTER DIRECTOR: RESEARCH SHOULD PASS SUSTAINABILITY TEST

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The new farm bill should require agricultural research to pass a sustainability test, Fred Kirschenmann told members of the U.S. Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee in Washington, D.C.

Kirschenmann is the director of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University. He testified at a hearing to gather information on the research, extension and education aspects of the upcoming farm bill. He was among eight people scheduled to address the committee, chaired by U.S. Senator Dick Lugar (R-Indiana). Iowa Senator Tom Harkin is the ranking Democrat on the committee.

Kirschenmann said that agricultural research needs to consider communities and ecology, and not just the profitability of short-run economics.

"We have looked at 'sustainable agriculture' research as a separate category long enough," Kirschenmann said in a written statement. "On-the-ground measurable results for agricultural research must include more than the productivity in a single growing season. Truly sustainable systems will result only when we are willing to integrate people and ecology into our thinking."

The brief that accompanied his testimony can be found on the Web, http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/leospeeches.html.

In addition to Kirschenmann, other Iowans who testified included Jon Caspers of Swaledale for the National Coalition for Food and Agricultural Research and Richard Stuckey for the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology in Ames. The Senate committee also hosted Iowa field hearings in Lewis and Spencer last Saturday. Among those who testified were Mike Duffy, an Iowa State University economist and associate directory at the Leopold Center, and Dave Williams, a Villisca farmer who chairs the center's advisory board.

Through its research and education programs, the Leopold Center supports the development of profitable farming systems that conserve natural resources. Center funding comes from state appropriations and from fees on nitrogen fertilizer and pesticides, as established by the 1987 Iowa Groundwater Protection Act.

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