KIRKSVILLE, Mo. — Sand County Foundation, in partnership with Missouri Farmers

Care, Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council, Missouri Cattlemen’s Assoc. (MCA)

and others, is extending the open call for nominations of the Leopold Conservation

Award Program in Missouri, and is now accepting applications until Aug. 1.

The $10,000 award will honor, for the first-time, Missouri farmers, ranchers and

other private landowners who voluntarily demonstrate outstanding stewardship and

management of natural resources. The award will be presented Jan. 6, 2018, in

Columbia, Mo., during the Missouri Cattle Industry Annual Convention and MCA

Trade Show.

 

The award is given in honor of renowned conservationist Aldo Leopold, who in his

influential 1949 book “A Sand County Almanac” called for an ethical relationship

between people and the land they own and manage, which he called “an evolutionary

possibility and an ecological necessity.”

For an application, visit https://sandcountyfoundation.org/uploads/MO-CFNHiRes.

pdf

Applications must be mailed to Missouri Farmers Care, 19171 State Hwy 11,

Kirksville, MO 63501.

KUTZTOWN, Pa. — Rodale Institute has announced the recipients to be honored in

September at the 7th Annual Organic Pioneer Awards (OPA) dinner. The OPA is an

opportunity to recognize a research scientist, farmer and business that are leading

the way to an organic planet. Recipients include researcher Dr. Kathleen Delate,

Iowa State University; organic farmer, Tom Beddard, Lady Moon Farms; and CEO

and founder of Patagonia, Yvon Chouinard.

Delate is a professor at Iowa State University with a joint position between the

departments of Horticulture and Agronomy, where she is responsible for research,

extension and teaching organic agriculture. She was awarded the first faculty

position in Organic Agriculture at a land-grant university in the United States in

1997. She has farmed organically in Iowa, California, Florida and Hawaii. In 2014,

she spent her sabbatical studying organic farming in Italy with a few of their 48,000

organic farmers.

Beddard founded Lady Moon Farms in 1988 with his wife Christine on five acres

in Selinsgrove, Pa. Lady Moon Farms was a founding member of Pennsylvania

Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA) with Christine acting as the founding

secretary and Tom as the founding president of Pennsylvania Certified Organic (PCO).

Lady Moon Farms is known for its ethically and socially just practices, providing

year-round employment and fair wages. It was the first tomato grower to join the

Coalition of Immokalee Workers in 2009 and it is also the first produce grower

to support Whole Foods Market’s non-profit, Whole Kids Foundation, supporting

schools to improve children’s nutrition and wellness.

Chouinard learned early in his life as an alpinist, surfer and fly fisherman the

seriousness of the environmental crisis – and he brought this knowledge to bear

on his work when he founded Patagonia in the early 1970s. In the late 1980s he

instituted Patagonia’s earth tax, pledging 1 percent of sales to the preservation

and restoration of the natural environment. In the 1990s, Chouinard encouraged

Patagonia to consciously reduce the environmental footprint of its products and

activities, beginning with a 100 percent switch from conventional to organic cotton

and the introduction of fleece clothing made from recycled polyester. Chouinard,

either independently, or with Patagonia helped co-found with others the Fair Labor

Association, One Percent for the Planet, the Textile Exchange, the Conservation

Alliance, and the Sustainable Apparel Coalition.

For more information, visit RodaleInstitute.org/OrganicPioneerAwards

ASTA elects new leadership team at annual convention,

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — During its annual convention June 21-24, the American

Seed Trade Assoc. (ASTA) elected its 2017-18 leadership team, which will continue

to oversee the implementation of the association’s five year Strategic Plan -- focusing

on advocacy, efficiency of operations, and internal and external communications.

The members of the 2017-18 ASTA leadership team are:

•Chair – Tracy Tally, Justin Seed Co.

•First Vice Chair – Jerry Flint, DuPont Pioneer

•Second Vice Chair – Wayne Gale, Stokes Seeds

•Rep. to/from Canada – Jim Schweigert, Gro Alliance

•Rep. to/from Mexico – Pablo Fernandez, Dow AgroSciences

•Central Region Vice President – Dave Pearl, The Cisco Companies

Incoming Chair Tracy Tally is president of Justin Seed Company in Justin, Texas.

He has more than 30 years’ experience in the seed industry. Besides running Justin

Seed for the past 25 years, he served as the ASTA Southern Region Vice President,

an officer on the Texas Seed Trade Association Board, was previously a certified crop

adviser and serves for a variety of organizations in his community. r life; it really does

all start with a seed.”

Official duties for the new ASTA leadership team began July 1.

 

 

AMES, Iowa — In a recent election at the Council for Agricultural Science and

Technology (CAST), Gabe Middleton, DVM, was chosen as the president-elect for

2017-2018.

Middleton will assume his responsibilities as president-elect at the conclusion

of CAST’s fall board meeting in October. In 2018-2019, he will become the 46th

president of CAST. In 1972, Charles A. Black and Norman Borlaug, along with other

committed scientists, spearheaded the movement to “bring science-based information

to policymaking and the public.” CAST’s network of experts assembles, interprets

and communicates credible, balanced, science-based information to policymakers,

the media, the private sector, and the public. For more information, visit www.castscience.org