With gratitude to the Indigenous gardeners who developed so many of the world's foods, author Diane Wilson will explore the long history between seeds and human beings, with a focus on maize or corn. Wilson will also discuss the importance of the food sovereignty movement, the work of two Indigenous-led organizations, and the inspiration for her novel, The Seed Keeper.  

The Graduate Program in Sustainable Agriculture invites you to join us for:

"Locally Grown: Central Iowa Growers Share Their Experience"

Agriculture is the dominant contributor of nutrients degrading water quality across the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. Addressing this challenge—I will argue—depends in part on gaining a better understanding of agricultural stakeholders’ decision-making and especially what factors are limiting adoption of conservation practices.  Drawing on my work since joining The Nature Conservancy’s Chesapeake Bay Program, I’ll discuss two specific projects as examples of how environmental social science can contribute to a better understanding of barriers to behavioral change in the agricultural sector.

How can we live well on Earth, allowing humanity and ecological systems to flourish and support one another? Mad Agriculture is on a mission to help answer this question in their attempt to catalyze the regenerative revolution in agriculture. They are doing so through four core areas of work: Mad Capital, Mad Lands, Mad Markets and Mad Media.

The Graduate Program in Sustainable Agriculture and the Committee on Lectures (funded by the Student Government) invite you to join us for:

"A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things"

The Graduate Program in Sustainable Agriculture invites you to join us for:

"Community, culture, and seeds: Seed sovereignty and Second Generation Seeds grower collective"

with 

The Graduate Program in Sustainable Agriculture invites you to join us for:

"Striving Toward a Perennial and Regenerative Iowa"

with 

The Graduate Program in Sustainable Agriculture invites you to join us for:

"Climate Action Through Working Lands, Conservation, and Restoration"

with 

The Graduate Program in Sustainable Agriculture invites you to join us for:

"Rewilding Our Communities for Climate Resilience"

with 

Hannah Lewis

Come mentally prepared to be introduced to a whole new way of thinking, of knowing, of learning, of being that defines the ancestral indigenous systems that have been regenerating whole ecosystems and protecting them so that we may have a blueprint for how to move forward as we have come to a scientifically verifiable point where in the name of food and feeding the world, we have successfully achieved to build systems that effectively destroy the ecological, economic, and social infrastructure on which we actually depend to feed the world. 

Join Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement at the Ames Public Library Rotary Room for a discussion with Tom Philpott!

Tom Philpott is the food and agriculture correspondent for Mother Jones and author of Perilous Bounty: The Looming Collapse of American Farming and How We Can Prevent It, a finalist for the New York Public Library's Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism. Previously, he worked as the food editor and columnist for Grist Magazine. His work has won numerous awards, including a Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism. He has worked as a steakhouse line cook, a farmer, and a community college teacher.  

The Graduate Program and Sustainable Agriculture, College of Design, and the MFA program in Creative Writing & Environment invite you to join us for:

The Graduate Program and Sustainable Agriculture invites you to join us for:

"Agriculture is How: Cargill’s Approach to Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility"

with 

The Graduate Program and Sustainable Agriculture invites you to join us for:

"Farm Story Meats: Telling the Farmer's Story"

with 

Ray Schmidt

Dr. Nair's presentation on the state of the GPSA program.  

The Graduate Program and Sustainable Agriculture invites you to join us for:

"Looking Back: GPSA Founders Recount the Early Years" 

Crews will provide a brief overview of recent progress in developing perennial grain crops through de novo domestication and wide hybridization. He will then use results from perennial cereal-legume intercrop studies to illustrate how ecological intensification presents promises and challenges in maintaining agroecosystem fertility over years. 

Freedom Farmers revises the historical narrative of African American resistance and breaks new ground by including the work, roles, and contributions of southern Black farmers and the organizations they formed. The book traces the origins of Black farmers’ organizations to the late 1800s, emphasizing their activities during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Sustainability is often defined using a three-pronged, social, economic, and environmental approach. However, nutrition and health, a vital component of sustainability is often not addressed or loosely categorized under the social pillar. The Sustainable, Resilient, Healthy, Food and Water System (SRHFWS) framework, in contrast, includes four pillars, nutrition and health, social and cultural identity, economic vitality, and environmental stewardship. This presentation will provide examples of how the framework can be utilized to critically assess aspects of a food system and evaluate connections between agriculture, nutrition, and human health.