Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
Four new members have been appointed to positions on the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture Advisory Board.
A statement released Tuesday by the Leopold Center announced that among the new appointees are two university department heads, the vice-president of Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, and a state agricultural bureau chief. The new members join 13 other board members on the board, representing Iowa educational institutions and agricultural and farming interest groups.
ISU filled two vacancies on the advisory board by appointing Maynard Hogberg, chair of the university’s animal science department, and Jack Payne, vice-president for ISU Extension and Outreach.
Hogberg returned to ISU in 2003 after 18 years as head of the animal science department at Michigan State University. Payne came to ISU from Utah State University, where he had been vice president for University Extension and director of the Utah Cooperative Extension Service. They replaced two long-time advisory board members, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Dean Wendy Wintersteen and Allen Trenkle, an animal science professor.
The University of Northern Iowa chose to appoint the new chair of its geography department, Patrick Pease, to one of its two seats on the advisory board. Pease joined the UNI faculty in 2006, coming to UNI from East Carolina University. He will serve in place of Tom Fogarty, a UNI geography professor who spent a decade on the board.
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey announced that the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship has designated Maury Wills, bureau chief of Agricultural Diversification and Market Development Bureau, as its representative on the board. Wills replaces Mary Jane Olney, a former IDALS administrator.
Leopold Center director Jerry DeWitt welcomed the new board members. “While we are always sorry to lose experienced, dedicated board members such as Drs. Wintersteen, Trenkle, and Fogarty, and Ms. Olney, we also appreciate the renewed energy and varied perspectives we gain from having new board members. Dr. Payne will provide us with a unique linkage to ISU Extension, which plays an important role in fulfilling the Center’s mission. Dr. Hogberg brings to the board expertise in all of Iowa’s livestock industry, a critical part of a sustainable landscape. Dr. Pease has done research on wind and soil erosion in North Carolina and other areas, so we will benefit from his scientific background. Mr. Wills offers both state government insights and valuable experience as an Iowa farm operator.
The Leopold Center, marking its 20th anniversary in 2007, was founded by the Iowa Groundwater Protection Act. Its legislatively mandated goals are to identify and reduce negative environmental and socio-economic impacts of agricultural practices, contribute to the development of profitable farming systems that conserve natural resources and cooperate with Iowa State University Extension to inform the public of new findings.
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