Buying local food
The easiest way to support local food systems as a consumer is… by eating local food! In most areas, it is becoming easier and easier to find local foods.
Be sure to check for community supported agriculture farms in your area on our Iowa CSA Directory page.
Here’s a video from our Community Food Systems team outlining procurement considerations for both farmers and buyers (2020, 15:14).
Here are a few other ways to find local food near you:
A farmers market is a fixed location where producers sell agricultural products directly to the general public. Products can include fresh fruits and vegetables, honey, eggs, meat, dairy, baked goods and grains. Find a directory to Iowa’s farmers markets on this page, maintained by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship.
Food hubs are businesses or organizations that manage the aggregation, distribution and marketing of local foods. They provide important services for small and mid-sized farmers. These can include marketing local products, brokering volume sales and coordinating distribution logistics. They can help producers meet industry requirements in areas such as food safety and packaging. Food hubs can specialize in wholesale (to institutions, groceries, etc.) or retail (to individuals). They may be organized as for-profit, non-profit, cooperatives or something in between.
Lean more about food hubs on our Food Hub resource page. Look for a hub in your area on our Iowa Food Hub Directory page.
Find more information and a map of Iowa’s food hubs on this page of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture’s website.
Click here to see the USDA’s current listing of food hubs.
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