Local food for the future of Iowa

I grew up on a 2-acre vegetable, flower, and egg production farm in Central Virginia. I was raised picking eggs every morning and green beans on hot summer afternoons. Although I never took cracking a fresh egg in the frying pan every morning for granted, it wasn’t until I moved to Iowa that I realized how a local and regional food system was more than an alternative way to buy and sell food - it’s a path forward to a more sustainable world, and it offers many meaningful career opportunities for young folks in a world where honest work that pays can be tough to find.

I started my undergrad education at Grinnell College in 2017 and knew little about myself other than I loved pizza rolls and had vague plans of being the President of the United States as soon as I was old enough. My college career progressed and opportunities to engage in Iowa’s food and farm system consistently arose.

It was impossible to ignore and all I had to do was say “yes.” As a student, I was a part of forming Grinnell College’s Farm House, I was invited to run and later elected to the Poweshiek Soil and Water Conservation District, and I was given the chance to purchase a small business called Grinnell Farm To Table that purchases local food from over 20 area producers and provides it to the community through food access and retail sales.

I was able to take advantage of my specific opportunities because of an abundance of privileged circumstances - like being a college-educated white man with no student loans, but I share my personal experience as one small example of a more generally applicable truth: Iowa’s food and agriculture movement can and does provide a wide range of engaging, economically viable opportunities to young people who are looking for work in this field.

Iowa’s local food farms, food hubs, restaurants, non-profits, and community food organizations are full of younger humans from many backgrounds from all over the nation and the world, doing inspiring work like managing farmers markets, running school garden programs, and facilitating grants that allow farmers to develop infrastructure and scale up.

The creative projects and healthy environment of collaboration put Iowa at the top of the list for me as a young person interested in sustainable agriculture and community development. When we are acutely aware of the issues of the “brain drain” and the hollowing out of small towns, a vibrant local and regional food system is a reason for people to come here and stay here.

And it’s not just young people; older generations are teaching skills and sharing responsibility equitably around a cause that brings diversity to our landscapes and keeps them from wanting to retire elsewhere. With that diversity come benefits that every Iowan can enjoy: cultural vitality rooted in Iowa-grown food and flavors; economic resilience and a circular economy; environmental and public health and more wildlife habitat. The continued development of Iowa’s local and regional food system is imperative for the future of Iowa.

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