Farmers from around the state voiced their support for the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University after the Iowa Legislature moved this week to eliminate state appropriations and shut down the center. Vic Madsen, a farmer from Audubon County and a member of Practical Farmers of Iowa (PFI), says the Leopold Center has helped fund on-farm research for PFI for three decades. “Through that research, Madsen says, “I have learned and adopted practices that I didn’t know I could use on my farm. The Leopold Center’s support is extremely important to farm organizations like PFI and to farmers like me, who want to know how to make Iowa agriculture more sustainable.” A review of six major projects recently funded and led through the center show more than 22,500 acres converted to improved conservation practices and structures that have reduced nitrate runoff and soil loss and improved water quality and wildlife habitat. The current legislative proposals include an education appropriations bill that would end a $400,000 annual appropriation to the Leopold Center, and a second bill in the agriculture and natural resources appropriation subcommittee that would reassign approximately $1.5 million to $2 million in annual tax revenue from the sale of nitrogen fertilizer that has funded the center’s work.
