Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture

Current Competitive Grant

Involving new immigrants and minorities in local food systems

Project ID: M2011-08

This 1-year grant for $40,434 was awarded in 2011.

Location: Statewide

Investigators hope to increase participation among immigrants and members of other minority populations in development of local food systems in Iowa. They will develop curricula for participatory research to be conducted by youth and for training sessions, and a website of resources for minority farmers, processors and distributors, retailers and consumers in each region.

Jan Flora

Jan Flora Jan Flora is a professor of sociology and extension community sociologist at Iowa State University, as well as a visiting professor at the Institute for Sustainable Smallholder Production for the National Agrarian University in Peru. He was a co-investigator on a previous Leopold Center project (M2008-27) that developed a training program for immigrant farmers at Marshalltown Community College in 2009 and 2010. Flora also helped in the planning phase for Harvest from the Heart of Iowa, which participates in the Regional Food Systems Working Group. Cornelia Flora is the Charles F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor of Sociology at Iowa State University. She will supervise a graduate student who will be assigned to this project. Flora currently is involved in a research and outreach project in four rural Iowa communities that is developing training materials and workshops to assist Latino entrepreneurs in reaching Anglo customers.

Co-Investigator(s):

Cornelia Flora, ISU Sociology


This competitive grant project is part of the Leopold Center's Marketing Initiative.

Topics: Human systems, demographics and beginning farmer programs