Fred Kirschenmann (born February 4, 1935) is an American professor, organic farmer, and a leader in the sustainable agriculture movement. He is board president of Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture and the former director of the

Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture The Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture (LCSA) is a center at Iowa State University devoted to the study and promotion of new techniques in sustainable agriculture. The goals of the Center are: “to identify and develop new ways to farm prof ...

. He is considered "one of the most prominent spokesmen for the sustainable farming movement."

Early life and education

Frederick Ludwig Kirschenmann was born in

Medina, North Dakota Medina is a city in Stutsman County, North Dakota, United States. The population was 264 at the 2020 census. Medina was founded in 1899. Geography Medina is located at (46.894668, −99.298065). According to the United States Census Bureau, t ...

. He grew up on his family's farm in Windsor, North Dakota. He received his undergraduate degree at

Yankton College Yankton College is a former private liberal arts college in Yankton, South Dakota, United States, affiliated with the Congregational Christian Churches (later the United Church of Christ). Yankton College produced nine Rhodes Scholars, more than a ...

. He attended the

Hartford Theological Seminary The Hartford International University for Religion and Peace (formerly Hartford Seminary) is a Private university, private Seminary, theological university in Hartford, Connecticut. History Hartford Seminary's origins date back to 1833 when th ...

. He earned a PhD in philosophy from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

. He began his career teaching religion and philosophy at Yankton College. He then went on to be director of the Consortium for Higher Education Religion Studies (CHERS) in

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Day ...

. He then became a dean at

Curry College Curry College is a private college in Milton, Massachusetts. It was founded as the School of Elocution and Expression by Anna Baright in 1879. In 1885, it was taken over and renamed by Samuel Silas Curry. History Curry College was founded in 1 ...

Career

In 1970, while working as an instructor and administrator at CHERS, he was struck by his student David Vetter's research showing how heavy doses of nitrogen fertilizer lead to the deterioration of soil. Vetter found that the heavy use of chemical inputs in conventional farming created what he called a "chemical treadmill": "Farmers would use a pesticide, then find the next year that bugs had grown resistant, forcing them to resort to newer, more expensive products." In 1976, after his father suffered a heart attack, Fred offered to move back to the farm, on the condition that he could run it organically. The farm was certified organic in 1980. It is planted with diverse crops to allow for crop rotation that has allowed him to farm productively without synthetic fertilizers or pesticides, creating a rich deep soil. Once establishing his farm, Kirschenmann returned to academia and worked for several different nonprofit organizations in order to advance the cause of sustainable agriculture. In 1979, he helped found and served as the first president of the Northern Plains Sustainable Agriculture Society from 1983 to 1988. In 1994, he joined the board of the Henry A. Wallace Institute for Alternative Agriculture. In 1997, He became its president. Kirschenmann served as the director of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture from July 2000 to November 2005. He currently holds the position of distinguished fellow. He has been an advisor and been interviewed for several documentaries including American Meat,

Dreaming of a Vetter World Dreaming, Dreamin', or The Dreaming may refer to: * Dreaming, experiencing a dream during sleep Culture and religion * The Dreaming, a term for the religio-cultural worldview in Australian Aboriginal cultures * Dreaming (Australian Aboriginal a ...

, and Symphony of the Soil. He has been appointed to USDA’s

National Organic Standards Board The National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) is an advisory board that makes recommendations to the United States Secretary of Agriculture on organic food and products. Members are appointed by the Secretary and these make recommendations, one of th ...

and the National Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production operated by the

Johns Hopkins School of Public Health The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is the public health graduate school of Johns Hopkins University, a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. As the second independent, degree-granting institution for research in epi ...

Awards and honors

Kirschenmann has received numerous honors and awards for his work, including the 2011

James Beard Foundation The James Beard Foundation is a New York City-based national non-profit culinary arts organization named in honor of James Beard, a prolific food writer, teacher, and cookbook author, who was also known as the "Dean of American Cookery." The prog ...

Leadership award, the 2012 Sustainable Agriculture Achievement Award from

Practical Farmers of Iowa Practical Farmers of Iowa (also known as PFI or Practical Farmers) is a non-profit farmer organization supporting agricultural producers in Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi ...

, the 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award from the

International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements The International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM - Organics International) is the worldwide umbrella organization for the organic agriculture movement, which represents close to 800 affiliates in 117 countries. It declares i ...

(IFOAM), the 2014 One World Award for Lifetime Achievement, and the 2014 Thought Leader award from the

Natural Resources Defense Council The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is a United States-based 501(c)(3) non-profit international environmental advocacy group, with its headquarters in New York City and offices in Washington D.C., San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Bo ...

. Stone Barns marked Kirschenmann’s 80th birthday by launching the annual Kirschenmann Lecture at its campus. The inaugural lecture was given by writer

Wendell Berry Wendell Erdman Berry (born August 5, 1934) is an American novelist, poet, essayist, environmental activist, cultural critic, and farmer. Closely identified with rural Kentucky, Berry developed many of his agrarian themes in the early essays of ' ...

Books and publications

In April 2010, a collection of his essays ''Cultivating an Ecological Conscience: Essays from a Farmer Philosopher'' was published by the

University Press of Kentucky The University Press of Kentucky (UPK) is the scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and was organized in 1969 as successor to the University of Kentucky Press. The university had sponsored scholarly publication since 1943. In 194 ...

Personal life

He is married to the environmental lawyer

Carolyn Raffensperger Carolyn E. Raffensperger is an environmental lawyer and the executive director of the Science & Environmental Health Network, as well as being a leading expert on the Precautionary Principle. She has authored a number of papers and publication ...

. He was previously married to Edith Maria Hults. He has two children, Ann Marie and Damon Frederick.

References

External links

*Writings by Fred Kirschenmann from the Leopold Cente
Writings by Fred Kirschenmann , Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture
*Writings by Fred Kirschenmann at In These Time
Fred Kirschenmann
*National Agricultural Library https://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/fred-kirschenmann *https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4853937/ *https://www.leopold.iastate.edu/people/frederick-kirschenmann {{DEFAULTSORT:Kirschenmann, Fred Living people 1935 births Agricultural education Agriculture in Iowa Agriculture in North Dakota Iowa State University Sustainable agriculture Agroecology Sustainability University of Chicago alumni Writers from North Dakota People from Stutsman County, North Dakota American agricultural writers American environmentalists Farmers from North Dakota Iowa State University faculty Organic farmers