Number of local food businesses close to 1,500 in Iowa

A new report from the Iowa Food System Coalition shows that Iowa has 1,461 local food businesses spread across the state.

Coalition staff said the report shows the economic viability of local food businesses across the levels of the food system.

Bob Ferguson, who serves on the Farm and Food Business priority team with the coalition, said the report showed an increase in the number of on-farm stores, farm stands and local food businesses from previous estimations.

“There’s more there than one would suspect,” he said. “There needs to be a lot more, but there’s already robust local infrastructure that interacts with itself to provide local goods and services.”

The businesses, which include food farmers, processors, food hubs and more, are spread across the state, with greater concentration around Iowa’s largest cities.

The majority, or 1,074, of the businesses are farmers and food producers. Meat and food processors make up the next highest category, with 189 meat processors and 47 food processors in the state.

The report identified between 10 and 26, per category, of local wineries, restaurants, retail stores, groceries and dairy manufacturers in Iowa.

The remaining categories had fewer than 10 businesses each identified in the state: grade A dairies, breweries, coffee, food hubs, raw milk, uncategorized, grain mills, caterers, distributors and private chef services.

The report defined local food businesses as producers that sell direct to consumer, strategic supply chain partners and some large volume distribution services that make “substantial and effective efforts to produce or market source-identified local foods.”

Ferguson said the food system has become heavy at the top level and at the small-scale level, but has been “hollowed” in the middle.

This report that shows the number and spread of local food businesses, he said, shows that “infrastructure at the middle is still there.” Ferguson predicts the number of businesses will only continue to grow in the state.

“It doesn’t make sense for Iowa to import 90-95% of our food when we have the best ground … We don’t in any way need to compete with commodity production to be very significant,” Ferguson said.

In addition to providing local food infrastructure and economic impact, Ferguson said these local business also provide a “powerful sense of placemaking” or the “coolness factor” that helps people “feel great about being where they are,” which he said is important for rural development.

The report analyzed online directories, like the state’s Choose Iowa network, various food hubs, farmers market databases and registries for licensed dairy and meat processing plants. Because the report only makes use of regularly updated online lists, the coalition notes it is “likely an under-count” of local food businesses.

The coalition hopes future iterations of the report will also include business that don’t have an online presence.

“I feel very certain based on what I’ve seen … that this is going to be a growing percentage of our food, and a very significant and valuable element of economic development,” Ferguson said.