Regional Food Systems Working Group

This group is comprised of geographically-based practitioners and community leaders with a goal to increase the investment in and support for local and regional food businesses in Iowa. There are 16 local groups that participate and jointly manage this group. The group was convened in 2003 by the Leopold Center Marketing and Food Systems Initiative as part of the Value Chain Partnerships program.

Read a March 2012 report from Michigan State University about the collective impact of this group, Creating Change in the Food System: The Role of Regional Food Networks in Iowa [PDF] [MSU website]

A regional food system supports long-term connections between farmers and consumers while helping to meet the health, social, economic and environmental needs of communities within that region. Producers and markets are linked via efficient infrastructures that:

• promote environmental health;
• provide competitive advantages to producers, processors and retailers;
• encourage identification with a region’s culture, history and ecology; and
• share risks and rewards equitably among all partners in the system.

The Regional Food Systems Working Group supports education, conducts research and facilitates partnerships to increase investment and support of community-based, economically sustainable and environmentally and socially responsible regional food enterprises. Representatives from more than 25 groups meet quarterly in central Iowa to discuss and coordinate efforts to build more vibrant regional food systems.

The goals of the RFSWG:

• Identify the key elements found in specific geographic areas that create a vibrant and sustainable regional food system.
• Work with leaders and food businesses in specific geographic areas and/or communities to identify and support the key elements that are not yet well developed.
• Help identify and measure key indicators that determine whether there is positive change in the regional food system as a result of projects or programs.
• Develop and implement a process for continuous learning across Iowa about what it takes to make a regional food system more vibrant and sustainable.

Where is our work?

[view larger map]

• Flavors of Northwest Iowa: Led by the ISU Extension and Outreach Regional Food Coordinator. Cherokee, Ida, Monona, Plymouth, Sioux, Lyon, O'Brien, Buena Vista and Woodbury counties. Visit website.
   
• Iowa Great Lakes Local Foods Network: Led by the Iowa Lakes RC&D. Dickinson, Emmet, Osceola, O'Brien, Buena Vista and Palo Alto counties.
   
• Northeast Iowa Food & Farm Coalition: Led by ISU Extension-Winneshiek CEED and Allamakee County Extension Education Director. Allamakee, Chickasaw, Clayton, Howard, Fayette and Winneshiek counties.
  • Visit Northeast Iowa Buy Fresh, Buy Local website
  • Visit Northeast Iowa Food & Fitness website
     
• Northern Iowa Food and Farm Partnership: Led by the UNI Center for Energy and Environmental Education. Benton, Black Hawk, Bremer, Buchanan, Butler, Grundy and Tama counties. Visit website.
   
• Harvest from the Heart (Comida): Led by the Prairie Rivers RC&D, National Center for Appropriate Technology and COMIDA. Marshall County. Visit website.
   
• Southwest Iowa Food & Farm Initiative: Led by the Golden Hills RC&D and Pottawattamie Board of Supervisors. Audubon, Cass, Fremont, Guthrie, Harrison, Mills, Montgomery, Pottawattamie and Shelby counties. Visit website.
   
• Southern Iowa Regional Food Systems: Led by the SCIAP Agriculture committee. Adair, Adams, Clarke, Decatur, Guthrie, Ringgold, Taylor and Union counties.
   
• South-Central Iowa Area Partnership: Led by the Southern Iowa RC&D. Appanoose, Clarke, Decatur, Lucas, Madison, Monroe, Union, Warren and Wayne counties.
   
• Hometown Harvest of Southeast Iowa: Led by the Pathfinders RC&D-Fairfield and Buy Fresh Buy Local. Davis, Jefferson, Keokuk, Mahaska, Van Buren and Wapello counties. Visit website.
   
• Dubuque Eats Well: Led by the Sustainability Community Coordinator-City of Dubuque and Municipal Services of Dubuque. Delaware, Dubuque, Jackson and Jones counties.
   
• Iowa Corridor Food and Agriculture Coalition: Led by the Iowa Valley RC&D. Benton, Cedar, Iowa, Johnson, Jones, Linn, Poweshiek, Tama and Washington counties.
   
• Healthy harvest of north iowa: Led by Wright County Here's To Our Health and Prairie Winds RC&D. Cerro Gordo, Floyd, Franklin, Hancock, Kossuth, Mitchell, Winnebago, Worth and Wright counties.(formerly North Central Iowa Local Food Partnership)
   
• Healthy Urban Food and Farming Group: Led by 1000 Friends of Iowa. Polk County.
   
• great river food alliance of southeast iowa: Led by the Great River Food Alliance, Buy Fresh Buy Local and Geode RC&D. Des Moines, Henry, Lee and Louisa counties.
   
• Quad City Food Hub: Clinton, Muscatine and Scott counties.
   
• Green County Local Foods Working Group: Green and Guthrie counties.

Working group resources

• The Current State of Regional Food System Work in Iowa - March 2012
• RFSWG fact sheet [PDF] - May 2012
• RFSWG poster [PDF] - February 2011
• Presentation - About Us [PDF] - May 2010
• Webinar: Addressing the business challenges to increase local food commerce in Iowa - Feb 2011
• Northeast Iowa Local Food Survey Summary Report [PDF] - July 2007
• Update for Northeast Iowa Food and Farm Coalition [PDF] - June 2007
• Update for Hometown Harvest of Southeast Iowa [PDF] - June 2007
• Developing a Vibrant Food and Farm Economy in Northeast Iowa [PDF] - March 2007
• Update for Southwest Iowa Food and Farm Initiative [PDF] - June 2007
• The Cultivators: Cultivating a Regional Food System in Southwest Iowa [PDF] - Dec 2006
• Developing a Sustainable Food System in Southeast Iowa [PDF] - Dec 2006
• Evaluating Economic Impacts of Local Food Purchasing in Several Market Channels in Black Hawk and Surrounding Counties [PDF] - A report of the Northern Iowa Food and Farm Partnership. April 2005

Links we like

• Creating Change in the Food System: The Role of Regional Food Networks in Iowa, a March 2012 report about the collective impact of RFSWG [PDF] [Michigan State University website]
• Slow Food USA
• Midwest Season Extension
• Iowa Farm to School Program
• Iowa Local Food and Farm Plan
• Learning about Local: A Resource Guide to Iowa Organizations and Programs Supporting Local and Regional Food Systems
• A Resource Guide to Cultivate the Linn County Food System

Our partners

• Buy Fresh Buy Local (Iowa)
• Cedar Valley RC&D
• Crossroads Resource Center
• Drake University Agricultural Law Center
• Golden Hills RC&D
• Hometown Harvest of Southeast Iowa
• Iowa Community Vitality Center
• I-Food
• Iowa Department of Agriculture & Land Stewardship
• Iowa Department of Public Health
• Iowa Department of Transportation
• Iowa Farm Bureau Federation
• Iowa Farmers Union
• Iowa Network for Community Agriculture
• Iowa Valley RC&D
• ISU Center for Transportation Research and Education
• ISU College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
• ISU College of Business
• ISU Extension
• Johnson County Local Food Alliance
• Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture
• Limestone Bluffs RC&D
• Marshalltown Community College
• North Central Regional Center for Rural Development
• Northeast Iowa Farm and Food Coalition
• Northern Iowa Food and Farm Partnership
• Northwest Iowa Regional/Local Foods System
• Pathfinders RC&D
• Practical Farmers of Iowa
• Prairie Winds RC&D
• Prairie Rivers RC&D
• Southwest Iowa Food & Farm Initiative
• University of Northern Iowa
• Wallace Foundation
• Washington County Economic Development
• Webster City Area Economic Development
• Women, Food and Agriculture Network
• In addition, we work with many Iowa farmers

To learn more about the RFSWG, contact Craig Chase, (515) 294-1854, cchase@iastate.edu, or Jessica Burtt, assistant coordinator, rfswgiowa@gmail.com .