2023 SUSAG Symposium. Wednesday April 19, 2023. Hach Hall atrium. Dinner at 5:00, student presentations at 5:45, key note presentation at 7:00 pm.

Unexpected Discoveries: A Story in Three Parts
Agricultural institutions, farming operations, and people are not always what and who they seem to be. Fortunately, history and ecology offer lines of inquiry for cutting through misconceptions and confusion associated with those subjects. Three diverse examples–creation of the U.S. land-grant university system, weed dynamics in crop fields, and the life and words of Henry A. Wallace–indicate how the lenses of history and ecology can provide insights that are surprising, unsettling, and useful.

Matt Liebman, is a Professor Emeritus of Agronomy and former H.A. Wallace Chair for Sustainable Agriculture, Iowa State University. He received a B.A. from Harvard University in 1978 and a Ph.D. from the University of California-Berkeley in 1986. Before joining the ISU faculty in 1998, Matt worked at the University of Maine for 11 years. He became a fellow of the American Society of Agronomy in 2009 and was a member of the National Research Council committee that produced the 2015 report titled “A Framework for Assessing Effects of the Food System.” His research, teaching, and outreach activities focus on ways to improve environmental quality and agricultural productivity while reducing dependence on agrichemicals and fossil fuels. Specific interests include diversified cropping systems, weed ecology and management, and the use of native prairie species for biofuel production and soil, water, and wildlife conservation.