Marketing and Food Systems Initiative

Click on topic titles in interactive matrix to view resources.

farmer profitability tomatoes food miles truck supply networks
cow economic impacts dairy dairy high tunnel
farm to institution people food, health and climate change strawberries food system assessments
tree place-based food and viticulture machine other resources Value Chain Partnerships

What's new

  • Local foods, local jobs A new study looks at the potential economic impact of increased local food production in southwest Iowa. Read more Similar work for southeast Iowa

  • Is Local Food More Expensive? A new Leopold Center study compares prices prices for Iowa-grown vegetables, eggs and meat with their non-local counterparts. Read more

  • Grassfed dairy  Are you considering a grass-fed dairy operation? Iowa State University Extension dairy specialist Larry Tranel outlines some of the basics in a new presentation as part of his work with the Leopold Center. View his presentation (with audio) View another presentation (with audio) about financing the operation.

  • Learning About Local  New directory of 64 Iowa groups involved in local foods. More  Another new resource answers questions about selling local products. More

  • New climate change glossary There is now a handy reference for understanding terms used in climate change discussions. The glossary was written by Rich Pirog, Marketing and Food Systems Initiative leader, and Rebecca Rasmussen, Graduate Student in the ISU College of Business. Read the glossary. [PDF]


Competitive Grants

Regional Food Systems Working Group

More about the Regional Food Systems Working Group and Value Chain Partnerships at www.valuechains.org

About the Initiative

Objectives for the Marketing and Food Systems Initiative are to:

Initiative overview [PDF printable version]

List of Leopold Center food systems research reports [PDF printable version]

Initiative leader: Rich Pirog, (515) 294-1854, rspirog@iastate.edu; or Program Assistant Beth Larabee, (515) 294-8530, blarabee@iastate.edu