Southeast Iowa Food Producers Co-op being launched in Jefferson County

FAIRFIELD – Local food processors and growers are teaming up to create a new network of relationships they’ve dubbed the Southeast Iowa Food Producers Co-op.

This new co-op is being created within the Southeast Iowa Food Web, launched in 2024 to support local farmers, boost the economy and provide fresh, healthy food to the community. Bob Ferguson, one of the founders of the food web who is also involved in the co-op, told The Union that the co-op is still in its infancy, but he hopes it will have its own website and email within a month.

The Southeast Iowa Food Web consists of 10 counties: Des Moines, Henry, Jefferson, Keokuk, Lee, Louisa, Van Buren, Wapello, Davis, and Washington. The organization plans to launch the co-op in Jefferson County first and then expand into other counties later. Ferguson said the goal will be to get producers, growers and manufacturers – whether seasoned veterans or newcomers – to learn what each other is doing to improve collaboration. This could lead to cooperative efforts such as making group purchases of inputs, and sharing machinery and knowledge.

Galen Saturley, one of the owners of The Collective in Fairfield, sells grain and flour through his business Breadtopia. He’s excited for what this new co-op can bring to the county. He’s already making in-roads in this area, having seized on an opportunity to provide a service to local farmers. He noticed there was a market for grain-cleaning, since the mobile ones had shut down, and shipping grain to South Dakota was prohibitively expensive. This prompted Breadtopia to get its own grain-cleaning machine, with an optical sorter that sends a puff of air to knock impurities out of a conveyor belt with grain on it.

Saturley said this technology has been around for three decades or more, but is just now available to small producers. For instance, he said his grain-cleaner does about 300 pounds an hour. Ferguson praised Saturley and his company for recreating the “missing middle” between small and large processors.

The Iowa Farmers Union also wishes to play an important role in the co-op. The group’s policy director, Tommy Hexter, and executive director, Matt Russell, said they’ve been impressed with Fairfield and Jefferson County’s commitment to promoting local food producers, and how enthusiastic the population is about this and other related issues. For instance, a happy hour the Iowa Farmers Union held at The Collective on Nov. 21 attracted 30 people.

Those wishing to learn more about the new co-op can send an email to bob@fergleads.com.

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Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com