MISSION To conduct action-oriented programs applying education, research and partnership-building to help soybean farmers succeed agronomically, economically and environmentally. THE ORGANIZATION ATESF is organized and operated exclusively for scientific, charitable and educational purposes. The goals of the organization are to: • increase producer and consumer understanding of agriculture • disseminate scientific research and information about agricultural technology and environmental stewardship • include a sufficiently full and fair exposition of pertinent facts that will permit the public to form their own conclusions RECENT BACKGROUND ISA’s Environmental and Agronomic programs have helped farmers apply, test, and adjust new practices in their own farm fields. The target is finding those practices that are proven to be environmentally, agronomically, and economically effective. But beyond being effective — they must also be affordable, broadly available, and workable for all farming operations. CURRENT OBJECTIVES Today, with data collected from 300 farms over four crop seasons, our goal is to build an organization that can transfer what we’ve learned to a large enough number of Iowa growers to have a significant environmental impact. WORK RESOURCES Many organizations see value in the work of the ATESF, and have opted to support it by providing ongoing funding. Those organizations include: • Pioneer, a DuPont Company has elected to support the ISA’s CEMSA program • Environmental Defense has provided resources for the research, development and support of environmental programs • the Altria family of companies, which has provided a grant from the Shared Solutions (SM) Agricultural Initiative in both 2005 and 2006 PERSPECTIVE “We don’t see this as a single campaign with an end point. Rather, this is an ongoing, adaptive management system, focused on employing sound research principles and an authentically scientific approach to solving problems. It involves learning how to define the best questions for testing, then using test methods that provide the most reliable data for verifying results.” Roger Wolf Director of Environmental Programs Iowa Soybean Association Ag Technology & Environmental Stewardship Foundation • 4554 N.W. 114th Street • Urbandale, IA 50322 A FRAMEWORK FOR ADVANCING AGRICULTURE'S ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE IN THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI RIVER BASIN - PDF