Okay, for all you busy bodies who missed tonight’s Wallace House Foundation event – it was excellent. I admire the organization for thoroughly following through on their mission to build community through dialogue. Not knowing what to expect, I was surprised upon our arrival only to find 14 or so attendees with a few more appearing after us. Was this a result of lack of interest or strategic planning? Perhaps a little of both, but I soon realized it was the perfect formula for the evening’s intentions.
Ann Taylor, our host, informed us of the active schedule. We would introduce ourselves before finding our assigned seats at the dinner tables, where we could enjoy a delicious meal and any discuss we choose. Then, we would all gather to hear Dr. Matt Liebman’s presentation on Balancing Agricultural Production with Resource Conservation (could they have given it a more sexy name?! ;o) and return to our assigned seats again – this time for a guided discussion. And, finally, we were to gather together one last time and exchange responses to the discussion questions.
Dr. Liebman was an unassuming rabble rouser. You know you’re on to something when your presentation and life’s work stirs the passions of “the masses.” Or in this case the attendees, whose backgrounds ran the Iowa-profile gamut: women acquiring land through inheritance; seed exec here for a business meeting with Pioneer; ag scholar; progressive gardeners; jovial, somewhat conservative, fertilizer sales entrepreneur and his supportive wife; engaging energy exec turned community organizer, and so on. The discussions were fascinating and I appreciated the mix of views, backgrounds, insights and interest. I was a fan of the evening and a new fan of the Wallace House.
To reference, again, some info on Dr. Matt Liebman: He was featured in that insightful and timely MotherJones article I (via Chap) mentioned earlier. [The movie King Corn also came up in the night's discussion.] Dr. Liebman is an Iowa State University Professor of Agronomy and the Henry A. Wallace Endowed Chair for Sustainable Agriculture. He is co-author of “Ecological Management of Agricultural Weeds,” published by Cambridge University Press. His research focuses on the development of farming systems that are productive, profitable, and healthy for people and the environment.
- Farmer Siobhan
Posted by thedirtonthefarm 
