AMES, Iowa -- Summaries of eight recently completed projects are now available on the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture website, covering topics that range from local food networks to invasive species to cattle grazing.
All five projects in the Marketing and Food Systems Initiative dealt with aspects of local food systems. Project investigators created new regional networks, offered food safety training, and studied how to help refugees and immigrants start farm enterprises.
One Ecology Initiative project designed a prototype rainwater catchment system for a high tunnel. A video and seven-page fact sheet about the project can be found on the Leopold Center website. Two other projects studied the spread of eastern red cedar in southern Iowa grasslands and examined the factors that influence how cattle congregate around pasture streams.
Marketing and Food Systems Initiative
- Iowa immigrant and refugee incubator farm program
- Regional Flavors
- South Central Iowa Area Partnership, local foods network
- Impacts of GAPs and post-handling practices certificate training on producers’ on-farm food safety behaviors and perceptions of customer assurance
- Building a food system framework to advance the health of Iowans – A blueprint for action
Ecology Initiative
- Systems model and prototype development to capture and use rainwater run-off from a high tunnel
- Quantifying eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) in southern Iowa: A starting point for conversations with landowners about threats to grassland resilience
- Site specific implementation of practices that alter the spatial/temporal distribution of grazing cattle to improve water quality of pasture streams in the Rathburn Lake watershed
SOURCE: Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture
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