Last month, I had one of those aha moments. A reporter was asking me about my thoughts on Iowa’s water quality and whether I thought shifting rainfall patterns (climate change) could be affecting nitrogen and phosphorus runoff. I responded that the research on this topic was crystal clear -- that over the last 20 years, the intensity of rainstorms has significantly increased, resulting in more runoff. The seriousness of this phenomenon should not be dismissed or ignored. Across most of the United States, the heaviest rainfall events have …
The Survey Says…
Imagine you are on the game show Family Feud where two families compete by guessing the most popular response to a survey question. This week the host asks you to complete the sentence, “Absentee landowners only know how to blank”. That’s right, it is your job to fill in the blank. You hit the buzzer and you respond, “Absentee landowners only know how to raise rent". Okay, maybe that wouldn’t be your answer, but I’ll bet it would be the #1 answer to the survey question that was previously posed to a group of 100 people. Last month, I …
Happy Thanksgiving
On Thanksgiving, we give thanks for our abundant soil and water resources. Happy Thanksgiving from the staff! …
I hope to see you at the Sustainable Agriculture Summit
Next week, the 2016 Sustainable Agriculture Summit will convene leaders from across the agricultural value chain to create the premier sustainability event for production agriculture. Field to Market, the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, the National Pork Board, the Stewardship Index for Specialty Crops, the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association, and the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef are joining together to host the event. The Summit brings together diverse stakeholders from across the food and agricultural supply chain to discuss …
Poking the Sacred Cow
Peggy and I took our annual vacation to the Northeast region of the United States (as I mentioned in my last post) and one of our stops was a tour of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Factory in Waterbury, Vermont. Wow, a tour of an ice cream factory! How could this possibly be a disappointment? I have long admired Ben & Jerry’s business, with its strong commitment to social responsibility—to their employees, the community, and the world at large. To my knowledge, Ben & Jerry’s is one of the first companies to identify Corporate Social …
A Fireside Chat with FDR
In early September, Peggy and I had the privilege of hanging out with Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt; or at least we posed for a photo with their bronze likenesses. This year, our annual vacation took us to the Northeastern region of the United States. Along the way, we stopped at the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Presidential Library in Hyde Park, New York. Peggy and I spent a total of seven awestruck hours touring the library and the FDR home. We agreed it is a “must see” for everyone. Arguably, FDR had one of the most difficult and …