Picture next spring -- a farmer bends over tilled Iowa ground, places seeds in the furrow and nudges soil over them, releasing the smells of spring’s warmth. This is the vision  the Iowa State University Extension Marshall County office and Iowa Valley Community College at Marshalltown have for the farm incubator they are developing.

ISU Extension and the community college are recruiting growers into a new farm incubator program. They are looking for people who have aspirations of growing vegetables and fruits to sell locally. The incubator is set up to rent out plots from 140 acres of land owned by the college that has been transitioned to organic. The incubator is also tied to educational components delivered through the college’s Entrepreneurial and Diversified Agriculture program.

These local partners, with the help of ISU Extension researchers and grants through the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture and Prairie Rivers Resource Conservation and Development, are simultaneously developing the farm incubator program and associated immigrant farmer training, and a multicultural local/regional food system.

“We believe this program will appeal to Latinos who were involved in farming in their country of origin, as well as locals who want to expand their farmers’ market sized business to the next level,” said Angie Nelson, Marshall county extension education director. “Research supports the belief that a community multicultural local food and marketing system brings opportunity to a community.”

Nelson cites ISU research conducted by Hannah Lewis, program coordinator,  under the guidance of Jan Flora, ISU Extension community sociologist, that indicates Latino farmers have a strong interest in returning to farming, but they don’t know how to access the land. The Marshalltown incubator addresses this issue by providing land, training and experiences in diversified small scale agriculture and Iowa production techniques.

Flora and Lewis found that many Latino farmers came to Iowa with a wide breadth of farming experiences.  Those interviewed by the researchers were interested in raising animals and produce, and were excited about having their native food varieties fresh and available locally for their own use and to sell to others with the same interests.

“The approach being developed in Marshall County uses an incubator and training to build a local food system that includes the needs of Latinos, but is not solely for Latinos,” said Flora. “The training will begin in January, followed by actual crop production during the 2009 season. We anticipate half the class being long-time residents and the other half new immigrants.”

The incubator partners will also be working with local businesses to source their food locally in order to develop the multicultural local food and marketing system. They will tie into the Marshalltown Chamber of Commerce effort “Target 5 Percent -- Buy In” which asks everyone -- businesses, institutions, governments and consumers -- to look for purchasing opportunities within the community and county before they buy anywhere else. 

“When produce is used locally, social capital as well as economic capital grows -- benefiting the community in multiple ways,” said Flora. “The incubator and training being developed in Marshalltown has the potential to be replicated in many Iowa communities. Our partnership with Prairie Rivers RC&D opens up opportunities to establish a regional food system, which can have tremendous implications economically.”

For more information about the farm incubator contact Angie Nelson at the Marshall County Extension office, (641) 752-1551 or arnelson@iastate.edu; or Jan Flora at (515) 294-4295 or floraj@iastate.edu .

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