Suzan Erem is a co-founder and executive director of the Sustainable Iowa Land Trust, a statewide nonprofit that permanently protects land to grow healthy food. Suzan graduated from the University of Iowa in 1985 with a Journalism and English degree but quickly found herself involved in making her community a better place. Since then she has pursued both careers - working writer and organizer. She returned to her adopted state of Iowa in 2010 to retire with her husband to their land in Cedar County but could not avoid or ignore the tragedy of agriculture that was happening in front of her eyes. At the same time she met young people wanting to farm but having no access to land. After nearly 2 years of research, she and 24 others came together in late 2014 to organize SILT.  Suzan will present on the use of land trusts as a way to preserve farmland for sustainable agriculture in Iowa.

Land as a Common Good: How We Can Feed Iowa in a Climate Crisis Colloquium Video (Echo360)