Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture

What's happening with the Local Food and Farm Program?

Back to Leopold Letter Winter 2011

The new statewide Local Food and Farm Program is moving ahead on several fronts, each led by people already working on similar programs throughout the state. Craig Chase, Iowa State University Extension farm management specialist and interim leader of the Leopold Center’s Marketing and Food Systems Initiative, is coordinator of the new program approved by the Iowa legislature in late July.

“The Iowa Local Food and Farm Plan that the Leopold Center prepared for the legislature, and is the basis for this program, had 29 operational recommendations divided into six sections,” Chase said. “We’re looking at major barriers to developing a vibrant food system in Iowa and then at what we could do to eliminate these barriers.”

The six areas are: business development and financial assistance; processing; food safety; issues relevant to beginning, minority and transitioning farmers; program assessment and implementation of local food incentives. Leaders are assessing current challenges and successes, identifying what’s needed, and suggesting future activities. They will present a preliminary report to the legislature in early 2012.

“Some recommendations from the plan have been accomplished, such as adding a farmer member to the Iowa Food Safety Task Force. Others will require more attention, such as the food safety training that already has begun in northeast Iowa.”

Chase said aggregation, storage, processing and distribution of locally grown food are among the larger issues, but he’s confident those efforts will grow, too.

“We have a couple examples of food hubs, sometimes called aggregation points, where anyone who wants to provide products can do that, from conventional corn-soybean farmers looking to diversify for extra income to the five-acre strawberry grower interested in an institutional market,” he said.

Chase also will meet with a newly appointed Local Food and Farm Program Council in January. Members and the organizations they represent are: Maury Wills, Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship; Rick Hartman, Iowa Farmers Union; Warren Johnson, RC&Ds of the Natural Resource Conservation Service; Teresa Wiemerslage, local food industry; Andrea Geary, Regional Food Systems Working Group; and Barb Ristau, Iowa Farmers Market Association.

Heuss

Lynn Heuss – local food incentives

Lynn is the Local Food and Farm Program assistant coordinator, and a program coordinator at the Women, Food and Agriculture Network. At the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition she worked for the passage of the Farm to School legislation within the Child Nutrition Act. She also has worked with Buy Fresh Buy Local, the Farm to School National Network, and the Iowa Farmers Union, and recently was elected to serve on the board of the Tallgrass Cooperative Grocery. In her spare time she enjoys gardening, biking, reading, food preservation, and taking care of her backyard chickens. She has three children, two graduated from Iowa State and one currently at DMAC.

Wiemerslage

Teresa Wiemerslage – food safety

Teresa is the Program and Communications Coordinator for ISU Extension and Outreach in northeast Iowa. She coordinates the work of the Northeast Iowa Food & Farm Coalition (NIFF), including its Farm to School Chapter. She holds degrees in biology from South Dakota State University and plant pathology from Iowa State University, and lives on a fourth generation cow-calf operation along the Minnesota border where they finish 180 head of natural beef annually.

Greary

Andrea Geary – assessing programs

Andrea is the Local Food Program Manager at the University of Northern Iowa’s Center for Energy and Environmental Education. She currently serves as Iowa’s state coordinator for Buy Fresh Buy Local, and coordinates the Northern Iowa Food & Farm Partnership. Andrea completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Iowa in 2001, and owned and operated a scratch bakery using local foods from 2004 to 2007. In her spare time, she enjoys being led on adventures by her two young daughters, outdoor activities, reading, and growing and preserving food.

Grimm

Jason Grimm – beginning, transitioning and minority farmers

Jason is the Food System Planner for Iowa Valley RC&D. Jason has degrees in landscape architecture and environmental studies from ISU, with an emphasis in regional and urban food system design and planning. Jason and his wife live in Coralville where they practice urban agriculture in their yard and work on their family’s small diversified farm south of Williamsburg, raising corn, alfalfa, small grains, black beans, produce, beef and poultry.

McCann

Nick McCann – food processing

Nick has an MBA in Operations Management and an MS in Sustainable Agriculture from ISU, where he also was a graduate research assistant for the Leopold Center Marketing and Food Systems Initiative.  Nick previously has worked in agricultural production, processing and marketing in both domestic and international markets.  His research and practical interest is working with small and midsize agricultural businesses to improve profitability, return on investment and cash flow.  He currently works as the Region 4 Food Value Chain Coordinator for ISU Extension.

Larson

Andy Larson – business development/financial assistance

Andy is a program specialist in Small Farm Sustainability for ISU Extension and Outreach, as well as state sustainable agriculture coordinator for Iowa’s SARE Professional Development Program. He earned an MBA with a minor in Sustainable Agriculture from ISU. A former Leopold Center intern, he leads the Grass-Based Livestock Working Group. Andy grew up on his family’s dairy and grain farm in northwestern Illinois.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back to Leopold Letter Winter 2011