About the Program
Devoted to long-term community empowerment and lasting impacts, the program requires deep community engagement. The program is designed to develop trust and coalitions, research and assess existing conditions and goals of the health and food system context, design and implement priority projects related to the coalition's mission and vision.
This multi-year process is completed in two phases:
Phase 1: Research and Coalition Development
- Develops trust within communities and generates a place-base vision, mission, and core values
- Assesses existing conditions and goals of the food system
- Determines priority projects through a facilitated evaluation meeting
Phase 2: Design and Implementation
- Designs priority projects as a project team
- Creates momentum and capacity for program development and implementation of projects
Outputs and Outcomes:
- Coalition development: developing a name, mission, visiion and core values along with logo design
- public input session materials
- Community food system assessment and snapshot
- up to five priority projects determined for implementation in Phase 2
Outputs and Outcomes
- Design development and assistance in implementation of priority projects
- Project management and design
- Grant writing
- Consultation with ISU faculty and staff experts
The Food System
Food systems are complex, dynamic, and involve numerous interactive sectors across the food supply as well as interactions across and within community assets.
The food system is comprised of five different sectors, ranging from production to resource management, typically viewed as a cycle or process. Similarly, food systems are embedded in our communities and both impact, and are impacted by, community assets such as our economies, natural and built environment, and equitable resource and decision making abilities. Overall, these complex systems influence the potential benefits and challenges for food access, sovereignty, business viability and general food supply and consumption.
Food System Sectors
Due to the complexity of food systems, our work seeks to understand the various components and sectors within the food system and how they connect, impact, and are impacted by, community assets.
We recognize and define five food systems sectors:
- Cultivation and Harvesting: science, art, or occupation of cultivating land, hunting, foraging, and fishing; raising crops, feeding, breeding, raising livestock, or maritime practices.
- Processing and Transformation: physical change of raw ingredients, physically or chemically, into a new product.
- Aggregation and Distribution: movement of products including the gathering and delivery to markets and buyers.
- Purchasing and Nourishment: consumer oriented use of foods including purchase, culinary activities, and programming.
- Conservation and Stewardship: care of natural resources to ensure access to energy, food, and water.
Community Assets
The Community Food Systems Program has been developed based on community engagement practices of public interest design, strategic doing, and collective impact. Additionally, the community capitals framework informed the initial pilot in terms of determining assets to research within communities. The initial 7 capitals evolved to include 7 asset areas based on strategic partner participation and critique in the pilot phase.
We recognize seven community asset areas:
- Built Infrastructure: developed buildings, roadways, and systems.
- Culture and Wellness: individual and population health through traditional and western practices.
- Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: same status and equal access to goods, services, and power.
- Economy and Finance: Wealth and resources for both personal and community.
- Government and Policy: Democratic practices and principles or actions adopted by groups, communities, and government.
- Knowledge and Wisdom: Experiences, formal education, and historical knowledge.
- Natural Environment: interactions of climate, living species, weather, and our natural resources.
Food Systems Core Competencies
The Iowa State University Extension and Outreach and USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) cooperative agreement brought together a group of individuals with expertise and knowledge in food systems. In the fall of 2019, partners worked to collectively identify core competencies needed for practitioners working in food systems, created a set of learning objectives for each competency, and identified existing curricula around the nation that met the objectives described.
This project resulted in the development of the Food Systems Practitioner & Education Resource Database, a free, national database for practitioners and educational resources in food systems.
Learn more
U.S. Virgin Islands
Iowa State University Extension and Outreach partnered with Virgin Islands Good Food Coalition to support food systems development in the territory. From 2018-2020, research was conducted to complete a community food systems assessment and snapshot, along with a Hurricane History Farmer Preparedness Checklist.
Learn more
Fort Dodge Farmers Market
Iowa State University Extension and Outreach partnered with the City of Fort Dodge in Iowa to conduct a farmers market feasibility study to assess the need and current conditions for expanding the Fort Dodge Farmers Market, including both increased vendor and consumer participation, as well as lengthening the market season to year-round. The final report (2022) shares findings, site assessments, and recommendations.