Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture
  2-27-07

  Contact: Fred Kirschenmann, (515) 294-3711, [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>; or Laura Miller, (515) 294-5272, [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>

  AUTHOR TO ARTICULATE ABOUT AGRICULTURE APRIL 15

  AMES, IA -- Nationally known farmer, writer, conservationist and philosopher Wendell Berry promises to tackle a host of contemporary agriculture issues as he delivers the 2007 Shivvers Memorial Lecture on Sunday, April 15, at Iowa State University's Memorial Union.

  Berry's rare public appearance is sponsored by the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture as part of its 20th anniversary observance. Berry's daughter, Mary Berry Smith, will join him for this lively session.

  The 7 p.m. event will feature a discussion moderated by Laura Jackson, Leopold Center board member and University of Northern Iowa biology professor, joined by two well-known Iowa organic farmers, Francis Thicke, Fairfield grass-based dairyman; and Laura Krouse of Mount Vernon, who grows organic seed corn and vegetables for a community supported agriculture enterprise and teaches biology at Cornell College.

  "Wendell is one of the great literary treasures of our time," said Leopold Center Distinguished Fellow Fred Kirschenmann, who helped arrange Berry's ISU appearance. "His practical wisdom shared through his poetry, essays and novels has withstood the test of time. We are deeply honored that he and his daughter Mary have agreed to come and help us celebrate our 20th anniversary at the Leopold Center."

  Both Berry and his daughter farm in Harris County, Kentucky where their forebears farmed for five generations. Berry is a prolific poet, essayist and novelist and has taught English at New York University and the University of Kentucky. Central themes for his work include responsiveness to one's place, sustainable agriculture, appropriate technologies, healthy rural communities, reverence and the interconnectedness of life. 

  Berry is especially well known for his essays and provocative writings about agriculture and food. He has called eating "an agricultural act" and minces few words about the current direction of agriculture.

  The annual Shivvers Memorial Lecture in memory of John Shivvers, who farmed near Knoxville, by is cosponsored Gamma Sigma Delta Honorary Society for Agriculture and the ISU Committee on Lectures.  
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  Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture
  Iowa State University/209 Curtiss Hall
  Ames, IA 50011-1050
  (515) 294-3711; FAX: (515) 294-9696
  All news releases also are posted on our web site: http://www.leopold.iastate.edu<http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/>
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