Ames, IA - One evening last April, 24 participants in the Land Stewardship Leadership Academy (LSLA) faced a massive tractor and sprayer, admiring its complexity. On their feet all day, they still eagerly leaned in to watch as a farm manager described the equipment's latest precision features. This was their last stop as they toured Iowa State University teaching farms around Ames where the cohort was continuing a weeks-long look under the hood of Iowa agriculture.
Through in-person and virtual discussions with farmers, extension specialists and each other, the unique LSLA program helps early-career natural resource professionals in Iowa gain knowledge to build relationships with farmers and increase confidence in their skills as conservation professionals.
Offered every other year, the program wrapped up its third class in May. It was developed and is led by Adam Janke, associate professor in natural resources ecology and management and extension wildlife specialist at Iowa State; and ISU Extension and Outreach staff Julia Baker, natural resources program specialist, and Catherine DeLong, water quality program manager.
Learning to better understand, communicate
Inspiration for LSLA came from awareness, backed up by research, that many people working at the interface between agriculture and conservation lack an agricultural background.
"We want our participants to better understand Iowa farmers' world and the different considerations that go into their decision-making," Janke said.
Iowa farmer Elyssa McFarland loved the idea when she heard about it, even before LSLA was launched. She has served as a farmer instructor for all three cohorts of the program. McFarland manages a diversified family farm in partnership with her father on about 1,100 acres in Louisa County that include purchased and rented land. She also works in the ag industry, helping landowners navigate carbon credit programs.
“Having worked to promote conservation myself in various roles, I know how challenging it can be,” McFarland said. “Our job as instructors is largely to give participants important basics about the complexities farmers deal with and be willing to answer sometimes tough questions.”
“Beyond that, I encourage participants to celebrate incremental changes they can help farmers make. If conservation professionals feel more empowered to communicate with the farmers who are not conservation champions, this program can have a big, cumulative impact over time,” she said
Grace Yi, a graduate in the program’s first cohort in 2022, is a habitat specialist with Practical Farmers of Iowa. She grew up in South Korea and has lived throughout the U.S.
“The program helped me gain a more in-depth understanding of the context of Iowa and its landscape, as well as specific topics like row crop production, livestock and farm finances. But the networking aspects of the program have been just as valuable,” Yi said.
Connecting and cross-training
Helping conservation professionals network with others in similar positions in government, nonprofits and farm organizations across the state is an important goal of LSLA.
“Participants often work in small communities where they may not have many other colleagues nearby," Janke said. "Some have just moved to Iowa. We try to connect them to a professional community so they can support and learn from each other."
The cross-training aspect of this is important, according to DeLong. "Interdisciplinary knowledge from connections with peers working in other natural resource areas can enhance these professionals' positive impacts on water quality and wildlife by helping them find opportunities to layer multiple conservation benefits."
These aspects of the program were especially valuable to Ethan Thies, who was in LSLA's first cohort while working as a watershed specialist in northwest Iowa.
"I already had a strong farm background, but I knew I could benefit from networking with other conservation professionals working in different disciplines. I still stay in contact with a number of people I met in LSLA and have been able to collaborate on projects with several," said Thies, now an extension conservation field specialist in Waterloo, Iowa.
Developing confident leaders
"Leadership has been described as one of the most important attributes in a conservationist’s toolkit, but practical training in leadership has long been lacking," said Baker, whose 2023 Iowa State master's thesis described the development and initial implementation of LSLA.
"We define leadership as 'inspiring and motivating others to achieve purposeful change,'" she said. "I like to think of it as equipping natural resources professionals with the tools to go beyond marketing conservation practices to helping change attitudes about stewardship.”
Alex Buseman took the LSLA course this spring as a conservation services manager for the Iowa Soybean Association. He grew up in Iowa but not on a farm, so he found it especially valuable to hear from and interact with the farmer instructors.
"Having these sessions helped broaden my horizons about types of farming in Iowa and how to better navigate conversations with farmers and landowners who may have different perspectives about conservation," Buseman said.
The program also gave him new ways to think about leadership, including building trust based on good communication with partnering farmers.
“Something I consider more now is making sure landowners understand what their adopted conservation practice is doing for their land and trying to facilitate positive experiences during the implementation process, keeping in mind that conservation retention is as important as adoption,” he said.
Iowa State uniquely positioned
LSLA has graduated 68 participants who overwhelmingly give the program high marks in evaluations. LSLA’s leaders are proud of how the program leverages Iowa State’s Land Grant University strengths.
"This program is something Iowa State is uniquely positioned to offer, thanks to our teaching farms and the deep bench of extension educators, farmer alums and partners with broad expertise in agriculture and natural resources," Janke said.
In the meantime, he and his team are already thinking ahead to ways the program might be improved when it's offered next in early 2027.
LSLA is funded with support from ISU Extension and Outreach, the North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program, the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, registration fees and travel and staff time of the participating organizations.
Contacts
Adam Janke, Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, 515-294-7429, ajanke@iastate.edu
Julia Baker, Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, jaclymer@iastate.edu
Catherine DeLong, Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, 515-294-5963, crdelong@iastate.edu
Ann Y. Robinson, Agriculture and Life Sciences Communications, 515-294-3066, ayr@iastate.edu