The Glynwood Medal was established in 2008 to annually honor an individual for distinguished leadership and service in the field of sustainable agriculture.

2008 GLYNWOOD MEDAL FOR DISTINGUISHED LEADERSHIP IN SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE AWARDED to Frederick Kirschenmann

Frederick L. Kirschenmann is revered nationally and internationally for his abiding, life-long dedication to the future of America’s family farmers and his commitment to drawing upon the wisdom of the past to creating a new paradigm for the sustainable agriculture of the future.
Fred holds a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Chicago and he is a professor in the Department of Religion and Philosophy at Iowa State University. He is the chair of the Whiterock Conservancy, which manages a 1300 acre conservation area in west-central Iowa. This extraordinary man also holds appointments as Distinguished Fellow for the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at ISU and the President of the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture in Pocantico Hills.

Fred also oversees management of his family’s 3500 acre farm in central North Dakota. He returned to the farm when his father became ill in 1976. By 1980, the farm was certified organic, one of the early operation of this scale to transition. The farm is a natural prairie livestock grazing system with a nine-crop rotation of cereal grains, forages and green mature.
The farm has participated in several research studies and has been featured in publications ranging from Audubon to Business Week to National Geographic.

Fred’s activities are too extensive and varied to fully recount. A few examples will provide a flavor of their depth and scope:

• Fred helped convene and is active with Agriculture of the Middle, a multi-state task force that focuses on research and market development to support midsize American farms.
• He writes often on a wide range of topics and is revered for his ability to reach both academics and farmers with his ideas.
• He helped found Farm Verified Organic, an international private certification agency.

We at Glynwood have long benefited from Fred’s wisdom and generosity as a colleague:

• In early 2002, Fred made a presentation at Glynwood that confirmed our determination to start an Agricultural Initiative in the Hudson Valley.
• He and the Leopold Center partnered with Glynwood in the organization of a national conference—New Perspectives on Food Security—in 2004.
• He has participate in our outreach to groups as varied as the Environmental Section of the NYS Bar Association and The National Trust for Historic Preservation, as we have helped them recognize how their interests intersect with those of family farmers.
• He has long been a member of the Glynwood Council and the Selection Committee for the Harvest Awards.