Additional Info on Iowa Fruit & Vegetable Market Planner

Go to calculation page
[on Institute for Transportation website]

Sources of data and supplemental information

Sources of data

• USDA Food Availability Data System
• U.S. Census Annual Population Estimates
• U.S. Census of Agriculture County Level Data Sets for Iowa
• U.S. Census Gazetteer Files (geographic dimensions)

Supplemental information and other useful links

• Assembling a Protype Fruit and Vegetable Market Planning Tool, Step-by-step techincal guide developing a spreadsheet for calculating approximate rates of demand for various crop locations, February 2011
• USDA National Fruit and Vegetable Retail Report (weekly average retail prices)
• USDA Agricultural Refrigerated Truck Quarterly (shipping issues, rates, and volumes)
• USDA Nutrient Data Laboratory (nutrient characteristics by item)
• USDA Standard Weights and Measures (standard weight and packaging dimensions)
• MegaConverter (standard unit conversion rates)

For more information about how to use the Iowa Fruit and Vegetable Market Planner, see our Users Guide.

About this tool

The Iowa Fruit and Vegetable Market Planner was funded, reviewed and published by the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, and developed and hosted by the Institute for Transportation at ISU.  This tool is copyrighted and intended for educational purposes; its use and application is not intended for sale.

From the Institute for Transportation at Iowa State University:

• Randy Boeckenstedt, Concept Development
• Pete Hunsinger, Programming and Web Development
• Mina Shin, Visual Design and Graphics

From the Leopold Center:

• Rich Pirog, Associate Director and Marketing and Food Systems Initiative Leader
• Laura Miller, Communications specialist
• Beth Larabee, Program assistant
• Tina Marks, ISU graphic design intern

For additional questions, contact Craig Chase (515) 294-3711 or cchase@iastate.edu.