Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

The Future Of Agriculture And Society In Iowa: Four Scenarios, Meghann E. Jarchow, G. L. Drake Larsen, Robert Costanza, Gretchen Zdorkowski, Stefans R. Gailans, Nicholaus Ohde, Ranae Dietzel, Sara Kaplan, Jeri Neal, Mae Rose Petrehn, Theodore Gunther, Stephanie N. D’Adamo, Nicholas Mccann, Andrew Larson, Phillip Damery, Lee Gross, Marc Merriman, Ida Kubiszewski, Julian Post, Meghan Sheradin, Matt Liebman

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

Iowa is a leader in crop and livestock production, but its high productivity has had concomitant negative environmental and societal impacts and large requirements for fossil-fuel-derived inputs. Maintaining agricultural productivity, economic prosperity and environmental integrity will become ever more challenging as the global demand for agricultural products increases and the resources needed become increasingly limited. Here we present four scenarios for Iowa in 2100, based on combinations of differing goals for the economy and differing energy availability. In scenarios focused on high material throughput, environmental degradation and social unrest will increase. In scenarios with a focus on human and environmental …