Congratulations to Iowa farmer and Climate Land Leader Wendy Johnson, who received the 2024 Iowa Leopold Conservation Award! Wendy was nominated by fellow Climate Land Leaders Maggie McQuown and Seth Watkins. Along with her family, Wendy stewards Center View Farms and Jóia Food and Fiber Farm in Floyd County, IA. Wendy shared the following remarks when she accepted the award in December, 2024.

Wendy Mariko Johnson standing in a kernza field at Jóia Food and Fiber Farm (photo credit Kathryn Gamble)

I want to thank the Sand County Foundation as well as the Iowa partner organizations that made this award possible, highlighting conservation in the beautiful state of Iowa.

I also want to thank Climate Land Leaders members for the nomination. It is an organization filled with landowners implementing conservation practices to help keep the soil in place, clean our water, and improve land for the next generation.

When people ask me how I got started in conservation, my answer is too simple. Independence. We started Jóia Food Farm based on animal welfare – getting livestock back on the land, to increase local food options regionally and to capture more margin in this farming world where we farmers don’t have a lot of control. Our farm businesses are built on simple conservation practices – less inputs, less work, more fun, and less stress.

Early on we observed the synergies between soil, plants and animals. And the outcome of conservation practices is healthy animals, healthy soils, healthy plants and healthy us.

When I came back to start farming in 2010 I knew it was going to be a fight against consolidation. I really push back on the notion that I have to get bigger to stay in the business of farming. How I am pushing back is through conservation and growing food and fiber for people. They go hand in hand.

Sheep grazing at Jóia Food and Fiber Farm (photo credit Kathryn Gamble)

For example, we know that perennials are more resilient to extreme weather impacts that are becoming more frequent, like flooding, drought, extreme temperature swings, and dry -hot- high winds. And data shows these impacts will increase in the years to come. The very land we rely on for our own viability is at risk more and more often.

We also know that more and more consumers want to know where their food comes from. And the growing conscious consumer wants to know what kind of impact they are doing by purchasing our goods.

And this synergy between conservation and local food, impacted by frequent extreme weather, strikes, pandemics, and other supply chain stressors continues to lead me toward helping my region and rural community become more resilient.

Field of perennials at Jóia Food and Fiber Farm (photo credit Kathryn Gamble)

I think we farmers have one of the best jobs on Earth. Taking care of land is incredibly fulfilling and meaningful because it is a constant celebration of life.

Land has a voice. All we have to do as farmers is be able to listen to it. And it guides our way.

I want to leave you with an Aldo Leopold quote from his book Sand County Almanac.

“When we see land as a community to which we belong, we begin to use it with love and respect. There is no other way for land to survive the impact of mechanized man, nor for us to reap from it the esthetic harvest it is capable, under science, of contributing to culture.

“That land is a community is the basic concept of ecology, but that land is to be loved and respected is an extension of ethics.”

What is your land ethic? Thank you for this great honor.

When we shared with Wendy that two of her Iowa farmer peers had nominated her, she said, “I haven’t done half the things I want to do.” While we believe that’s true, we know that today Wendy has already demonstrated extraordinary leadership in working lands conservation, guided by the understanding that humans live in community with the natural world and an ethic that prioritizes diversity at every level. Congratulations, Wendy!