Monday, March 11, 2013
Today dawned frigid and blustery—last night’s blizzard left four inches of powder and a fine crust of ice on the roadways, so the fourteen of us bundled up, scraped the vans out of their frozen stupor and precariously rolled out to meet Mark Rasmussen, director of Iowa State University’s Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture.
The Leopold Center is a research and education facility whose mission is to point out, address and reduce negative environmental and social impacts of contemporary farming while developing new methods for profitable farming and conserving natural resources. Mark told us the center is divided into four principle initiatives—ecology, marketing, policy, and cross-cutting research that bridges all areas like water, energy, soil and alternative farming practices.
Mark emphasized the importance of the Leopold Center in supplying a forum to discuss the social and ecological issues of farming across disciplines and areas of expertise. Many of the center’s projects are organized as working groups—a group that brings together stakeholders from different backgrounds to collaborate on shared area issues. The working group philosophy upholds the belief that true understanding is gleaned and progress is only made when diverse voices from across the value chain converge on a topic.
He also touched on many agricultural trends we know about—the ethanol market is trading pasture and soil for biodiesel, perennial land is being converted to soybean and corn monocultures, there is immense habitat loss, extra fertilization and nitrogen runoff, deterioration of water quality, and the voice of agribusiness is dominant in Iowa politics, with a tendency to turn a blind eye to the problems it’s creating.
Mark pointed to the slowdown in innovation and research with regard to see patenting, and he is worried the soybean industry could soon be controlled by as few as three companies. Defending patents against infringement, he says, prevents a third party from doing research and thus prevents innovation, which is the very mother of food patenting!
The Leopold Center’s generosity knew no limits. They gave us some free pamphlets about the center and its projects and even included a brand spanking new copy of A Sand County Almanac!
Next stop was Iowa CCI—Citizens for Community Improvement, a nonpartisan, grassroots organization where we spoke with Adam and Jess about Iowa CCI’s efforts to counter encroaching factory farms and corporate consolidation. They do this in three main ways: 1. Meet people locally. 2. Push for stronger enforcement of laws, 3. Push for better laws and stronger public oversight.
Our hosts highlighted a few key areas in the agricultural political landscape that need addressing. Adam mentioned the need to clarify companies’ jargon in newspapers that leads to miscommunication and later animosity between farmers and developers. A pitiful statistic demands immediate action: with over 8,000 hog raising sites in Iowa, there are only 8.75 hog inspectors. That’s 1 inspector for every 1,000 hogs, so many incidents and hazardous conditions go unreported. Today there are over 200 waterways in Iowa that have made the EPA’s Endangered Waterways list.
The organization has succeeded in stopping over 100 corporations and CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations) from building since its establishment. Iowa CCI’s Commander’s Intent is to win policies, shift public opinion, and impact elections to affect meaningful change in agribusiness that is today riddled with complacency, ineffective and loose regulations, and insufficient community action.
After a scrumptious lunch of Costco Trail Mix and bruised bananas, we headed to Lincoln Way Ethanol Plant, where a worker gave us a tour of the whole facility, from the corn lab to the grain elevators and the loading dock where semis are filled to deliver corn across the nation. As we went along, our group dipped in and out between Arctic blasts of air and the warm haven of the factory, whose air was thick with the smell of yeast. We learned that every part of the corn kernel is used with great efficiency—one third is put toward ethanol, one third toward C02 (the waste of which goes to flash freezing pizza at the plant down the road!) and the last third goes to animal feed. It was a great opportunity to speak with people on the energy side of the production chain, who believe in ethanol as a clean, renewable energy that can partially displace our dependence on petroleum. A lot has been written about the Food vs. Fuel debate, but it was neat to tour this ethanol plant whose mission is marked by the Food vs. Freedom debate—that is, freedom from oil.
Lastly, we visited Proteus, an Iowa-based, private, nonprofit organization that provides farmworkers, immigrants, and low-income populations and their families with services to improve their health, education, and economic opportunities. Established in 1979, it has served the Latino population of Iowa for more than 30 years through grant-related funding. It was great to learn that this nonprofit has been working to ameliorate cultural barriers between service providers and immigrants through bilingual programs, and it was also interesting to know that contrary to popular belief, most workers connected to Proteus are documented.
After four rousing, stimulating and thought-provoking meetings, we were dog beat, so we packed into the vans and bumbled back to Ames to feast on Israeli pita with poached eggs and vegetables. To wind down, we played some crazy rounds of Catch Phrase and Fish Bowl, and did not stop laughing until the lights went out.
A Trip to the Corn Belt 