‘There’s room for creativity’: Farmer, conservationist awarded for sustainable ag practices

Growing up during the farm crisis in the 1980s, Wendy Johnson didn’t think she had a future in agriculture.

After graduating from college in the Twin Cities in 1999, Johnson — an Iowa native and fourth-generation farmer — moved to Los Angeles, to work in California’s fashion industry.

But after her grandmother’s death in 2009, Johnson decided to move back to Iowa with her husband. She’d been gone 18 years.

“The soil was calling me back,” said Johnson, who also lived in Brazil for two and a half years to teach English. “It was a time in my life where I really started to think about coming back to Iowa.”

Johnson said one of the key reasons she decided to move back was to take care of the Iowa land that her grandparents and great-grandparents worked “so hard for their entire careers.”

In late 2010, she packed her bags and returned to Iowa, living in Floyd County in northern Iowa, to dive back into farming and conservation work.

“When I decided to move back to Iowa and start farming, I had to be really serious about it. I was in my mid-30s, and it was a big change, so I had to be sure it wasn't something I could just try out and then leave,” Johnson said. “I had to be sure that it was something that I wanted to do for the rest of my life.”

When she was growing up, Johnson walked soybeans and worked with pigs, but she wasn’t running tractors. Out west in California, she had a large garden where she grew vegetables, but not to the scale she would be growing back in Charles City.

“I thought ‘Oh well, if I can grow food here, I can grow food anywhere,’” she said. “I was really interested in growing food for people.”

So, when she took the leap to come back to Iowa, Johnson had to “learn all about farming.”

When Johnson jumped back into the world of agriculture and Iowa farming, she took the time to learn the basics about growing corn and soybeans. But she also took it as an opportunity to “get creative.”

“I really wanted to learn everything I could about growing corn and soybeans, but at the same time I was also intrigued with organic agriculture. And I started to learn about organic corn, soybean, small grain production and crop rotations using biological methods versus chemical methods,” said Johnson, who eats organic food. “I was learning both avenues.”

She said learning conventional farming wasn’t too difficult because she was “learning while doing.”

But, learning non-conventional farming methods took more time.

“Researching, learning and questioning anything outside of conventional agriculture back then took more work and time,” Johnson said. “There weren’t many organic farms or farmers nearby, there wasn’t anyone doing much rotational grazing or integrating crops and livestock together and cover cropping was just starting to become more known, but not practiced as much.”

Johnson said she relied on mentorships, peers, field days from nonprofit organizations and online information to help build her non-conventional farming skill set.

“There is always a bit of frustration mixed in when working with the older generation,” she said. “Conservation practices are long-term investments with long-term gains. Conventional agriculture doesn’t necessarily function with the long-term in mind, it is more of a short-term, year by year strategy.”

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Johnson said that connecting with like-minded people, organizations and businesses that shared the same goals as her helped “push things along.”

As she kept farming in Iowa, she started integrating livestock into her farm’s organic crop rotations for biological weed control, planting perennials like alfalfa and working to incorporate crop diversity into her fields.

Over the past decade, Johnson has planted more than 6,000 fruit, nut and hardwood trees and shrubs across her land. She also has grown a “micro-orchard” of apples, pears, Chinese chestnuts and hazelnuts.

Through her agriculture and conservation work — both on Center View Farms, which she co-manages with her father, and Jóia Food & Fiber Farm, which she and her husband started — she was awarded the Iowa Aldo Leopold Conservation Award for 2024.

Johnson said she was surprised when she learned she was one of 20 people or families to receive the award this year.

“I’m not the type of person who wins awards,” she said. “This is one of the first awards that I've ever won, so that made it feel extra special.”

History of the award

Johnson is the third Iowan to win the Aldo Leopold Conservation Award, which has been awarded by the Sand County Foundation since 2003 to celebrate farmers’ and conservationists’ work. Each year, about 20 farmers or families receive the award.

The award — which is presented annually to conservationists — serves to inspire other landowners to embrace conservation practices that improve soil health, water resources and wildlife habitat.

It is named after Aldo Leopold, a conservationist and environmentalist who was born in Burlington, Iowa. Leopold, who may be best known for his collection of essays, “A Sand County Almanac,” is referred to by the Aldo Leopold Nature Center in Wisconsin as the “father of wildlife ecology.”

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Kevin McAleese, Sand County Foundation president and CEO, said the recipients of this award are examples that show Aldo Leopold’s “land ethic” — which calls for us to see humans as part of a community that includes all parts of the Earth — is alive and well today.

“Their dedication to conservation shows how individuals can improve the health of the land while producing food and fiber,” McAleese said.

The Sand County Foundation is a national nonprofit conservation organization that works to equip “farmers, ranchers and forestland owners with conservation data and reliable examples to guide their ethical land management.”

Awardees receive a crystal plaque and $10,000 to continue conservation efforts on their land. Farmers and conservationists in 30 states have received the award since it started in 2003.

Johnson said her award money will go toward reinvesting in the conservation practices she currently uses on her farm, as well as experimenting with new ones.

Practical Farmers of Iowa, an organization that promotes sustainable farming, is one of the partners that presents the award with the Sand County Foundation.

Sally Worley, PFI’s executive director, said the award is not only meant to recognize leaders in conservation, but also to inspire other Iowans.

“Leaders like Wendy encourage farmers to try new things, be stewards of the land and prioritize the long-term resiliency of their farms and communities,” Worley said.

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Johnson said she hopes other farmers and conservationists “get creative” with their farming practices.

“There are ways to farm outside of corn and soybeans, and conservation is one of the guiding principles in creating a viable business,” Johnson said. “There are endless opportunities for farmers to transition some of their land to more conservation-type practices.”

Olivia Cohen covers energy and environment for The Gazette and is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues.

Comments: olivia.cohen@thegazette.com