Team Visit with Under Secretary Thomas Dorr

Members of the Agricultural System Initiative visited Washington D.C. on January, 26 th and met with Thomas Dorr, the Under Secretary for Rural Development at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Some of the major points of the discussion were the impacts of local vs. non-local investors in ethanol processing plants; the impact of ownership on natural resource management, and the development of a sustainable bioeconomy

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Symposiums

On October 6th, 2005 the Agricultural Systems Initiative hosted a mini symposium on systems issues related to the bioeconomy as a major team building exercise for proposal development. Invited ISU faculty gave brief presentations addressing issues related to bioprocessing, biorenewable fuels, biorefinery locations, rural communities, and land ownership concerns. The goal of the mini symposium was to stir thinking processes of the audience and get input for the research proposal that will link bioeconomy development with the Agricultural Systems Initiative goals.

See the white paper for the research proposal here

See the Mini-Symposium Agenda here

The symposium was attended by 35 people, including farmers, representatives from IDNR, USDA, and faculty from five different departments. A working group for developing the proposal is being formed from on-campus faculty, off campus faculty, and NGO representatives.

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A research-team building poster symposium was held on September 8th, 2004 at the Scheman Building at Iowa State University from 9-11 am.
There were 28 poster presented by faculty from seven different departments representing two different colleges and the National Soil Tilth Laboratory.

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EPA and the Initiative

On June 23rd the EPA region VII office hosted a meeting on agricultural issues and the environment. Representatives from the Agricultural Systems Initiative, Kansas Center for Agricultural Resources and the Environment of Kansas State University, and EPA region VII attended the meeting. The goal of this meeting was to get representatives from the Agricultural Systems familiar with research opportunities within the EPA and to allow EPA representatives to become familiar with our research interests and goals.

See Agenda here

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The Agriculture Systems Initiative hosted representatives from the EPA Region VII office on January 20th from 10:00am-3:00pm. The goal of this meeting was to enhance communication between this initiative and the Region VII office.

See Agenda here

See presentation about the Initiative here

NCSE and the Initiative

The 6th National Conference on Science, Policy and the Environment was held on January 26-27, 2006 in Washington DC. The theme of the conference was on Energy for a Sustainable and Secure Future.

Representatives of the Agricultural Systems Initiative and ISU who attended the conference were Tom Brumm, Bill Clark, Joe Colletti, Rick Cruse, Brent Danielson, Steve Fales, Jill Euken, Paul Gallagher, Matt Helmers, Carl Herndl, Paul Lasley, Lisa Schulte, and Gene Takle. The Agricultural Systems Initiative was invited to develop a breakout session for this conference on Agriculture and Bioenergy: Achieving Sustainability. The breakout session, one of nineteen, had a greatest number of preregistered participants; approximately 80 out 800 conference participants. The panel members were: Rick Cruse, Steve Fales, Paul Lasley, Nathanael Greene, Lee Lynd, and Robin Graham. One of the outcomes of this breakout session is a set of policy and procedural recommendations that is listed below.

Read more about the outcome of this breakout session in the latest newsletter (Spring, 2006)

The Agricultural Systems Initiative continues to discuss future cooperative opportunities with NCSE.

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National Council for the Science and the Environment held the 5th National Conference on Science, Policy and the Environment: Forecasting Environmental Changes. The conference was held on February 3-4, 2005 at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, DC.

Two Iowa State University faculty presented posters.

• Dr Diane Debinski (Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology (EEOB)
  • Poster title: Using Remotely Sensed Habitat Classification and Species Distribution Patterns to Define Ecological Indicators of Climate Change
  • Authors: Diane M. Debinski, Ron E. Vannimwegen, and Mark E. Jakubauska
    
• Dr Gene Takle (Department of Agronomy)
  • Poster title: Basing Policy on Sound Science: Using Human Behavior Models Coupled with Physically Based Models
  • Authors: Eugene S. Takle, Catherine L. Kling, Rick Cruse, Phil Gassman, Heidi Asbjornsen, Diane Debinski, Raymond W. Arritt, William J. Gutowski, Jr. Sylvia Secchi, Manoj Jha, and Mahesh Sahu

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NASULGC Water Quality Seminar

The National Association of the State Universities and Land-Grand Colleges (NASULGC) and the University of Wisconsin-Madison hosted a water quality seminar in Milwaukee on January 17 th, 2006. The purpose of the seminar was to present an expert summary of current water quality research and outreach at America's land-grant universities; to highlight issues and challenges facing the decision-making community regarding water quality issues; to engage the scientific community and "stakeholders" in a discussion of opportunities and recommendations for future research, extension, and teaching; and to identify resources and suggested directions for land-grant water efforts.

Representatives of the Agricultural Systems Initiative and ISU attended the meeting. A poster prepared by the Agricultural Initiative on ISU`s Capacity on Water Resources Research, Education, and Extension was presented by the representatives.

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Third Annual POWER-GEN Renewable Energy and Fuels Conference

The American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) and POWER-GEN organizes America’s premier all-renewables conference and exhibition on April 10-12, 2006 in Las Vegas. The conference was designed to move renewables into the mainstream of the energy sector.

Rick Cruse from Agricultural Systems Initiative was invited as a panel member to ‘The Many Words of Biomass’ panel discussion to address agricultural system requirements necessary for a sustainable bioenergy industry. The goal of the session is to discuss the applications and opportunities of biofuels, including flexible fuel vehicles, biofuels in aviation, biopower, biobased products, animal manure into biogas and biopower, and sustainable agriculture to ensure a continuous supply of biomass feedstocks while enhancing the environment and stabilizing greenhouse gases. Click here more information

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Fourth Annual W.E. Larson and R.R. Allmaras Lecture Series

The Department of Soil, Water, and Climate at the College of Agriculture, Food, and the Environmental Science, University of Minnesota will host the Fourth Annual William. E. Larson and Raymond. R. Allmaras lecture series on Emerging Issues on Soil and Water on April 19 th, 2006. Rick Cruse was invited to give a presentation on the “Future Bioeconomy and Its Impact on Soil and Water Resources”. Click here to listen the presentations. ( Dr Bruce Dales presentation is in part 1. and Dr Cruse`s presentation is in part 2. The 'play bar' should be moved to 8 minutes to see Dr Cruse`s presentation.)

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