Food nonprofits see fruitful year, despite ongoing drought

2023 wasn’t exactly a banner year for agriculture – Iowa saw its third year of drought conditions spread over the state. Despite the challenges seen by farmers and producers, local food nonprofits experienced significant growth this year. Grow: Johnson County (Grow) hit a milestone by producing 40,000 pounds of fresh produce on six acres, the […]

2023 wasn’t exactly a banner year for agriculture – Iowa saw its third year of drought conditions spread over the state. Despite the challenges seen by farmers and producers, local food nonprofits experienced significant growth this year. Grow: Johnson County (Grow) hit a milestone by producing 40,000 pounds of fresh produce on six acres, the largest harvest of its history – 10,000 more pounds than last year. Grow is a community-focused education farm program in Iowa City that works to equip and train aspiring food producers and improve access to healthy food. A program of Iowa Valley Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D), it has been operating since 2016 and is one of several nonprofit food organizations in Johnson County that keep food pantries and schools stocked with fresh produce. 

Claire Zabel, food and farm specialist with the Iowa Valley RC&D, said having a full-time farm manager this year made a significant impact on food production with Grow. “Having the labor available on site to actually get things done in a timely manner really made a huge difference,” she said.  Grow depends on volunteers and seasonal helpers to keep things running smoothly. Typical volunteer hours are three days a week from 8 a.m.-noon.  “We don't always know how many people are going to show up on a given day,” said Ms. Zabel, underscoring the importance of having a full-time manager on site. College students help out during the summer months, and the retired volunteer their time in the autumn.

Challenges

Because the program shares land with other producers – land access program growers and Global Food Project gardeners – the persistent drought made irrigation a challenge. “There are definitely setbacks,” said Ms. Zabel. “Some days there is no pressure left, because everybody's trying to get water at the same time.” The program receives funding through grants, corporate sponsorships, donations and a  small contract with the Johnson County Board of Supervisors. Currently, the program’s biggest needs are additional corporate sponsorships in order to fund seed purchases and offer competitive wages to apprentices and hire additional help; a 2024 goal is to produce even more. “We've been hearing from partners that there's an increase in people needing food from the pantries– in the realm of 70%-90% more families come into the pantry. So this is really needed, and we want to produce as much as we can and get it out in the community where people can access it. Because we believe that everyone should have access to local fresh, healthy produce at the pantry,” said Ms. Zabel.

Iowa declines federal dollars for low-income summer food program

Food pantries have seen a significant uptick in visits. In December, it was announced that Iowa would not be participating in the Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer for Children program, a program that provides additional food assistance for low-income children during the summer. Gov. Kim Reynolds criticized the program for not having a strong nutritional focus and opted to expand and enhance already existing childhood nutrition programs, a move that Luke Elzinga, policy and advocacy manager with the Des Moines Area Religious Council and board member of the Iowa Hunger Coalition denounced as “disappointing” and a “mischaracterization” of the program.  “We are seeing at food pantries and food banks across the state record-breaking numbers,” Mr. Elzinga said, in an article by the Iowa Capital Dispatch. “And during the pandemic, those numbers were down because people had additional SNAP benefits.” “A lot of us think that food insecurity is something that happens to other people. But so many of us are one missed paycheck or one medical emergency away from having to use pantry services,” said Ms. Zabel. 

Field to Family

Another Johnson County nonprofit food organization, Field to Family, operates a food hub that aggregates, stores, distributes and promotes fresh local food to Iowa institutions. Located in the nondescript Pepperwood Plaza strip mall in Iowa City, Field to Family currently works with 79 producers, delivers to 19 food pantries, purchased a whopping $400,000 worth of food from local producers this past year and served nine to 39 schools in the span of a year-and-a-half.  In June 2022, the USDA Healthy Food Financing Initiative grant donated $200,000 to Field to Family to help expand its operations. “We were already in operation; we're already working with local food pantries and food banks here, we are already working with the school districts, and so we were poised for this opportunity,” said Michelle Kenyon, director of Field to Family. "Then we realized we needed to grow a little bit more to meet the demand."

A year of growth

2023 was a year of firsts for Field to Family, beginning with home deliveries and working with immigrant and refugee food producers. “We've grown through these opportunities and the demand, but we've also had to grow staff; before, it was me, a manager and a coordinator. Now we have two managers and two coordinators. And there's times when that's not enough,” said Ms. Kenyon. According to Field to Family, the organization works with 13 immigrant, refugee and BIPOC producers, which provide specialty produce such as peppers, sweet potatoes, sweet potato greens, white eggplant, okra and cranberry beans. “Their culture had much more connection to where their food came from and growing food as they grew up,” said Ms. Kenyon, who said many of their immigrant food producers come from African countries. Juggling the logistics of working with multiple producers across the county can be overwhelming at times. “There's a lot of logistics that they (producers) need to know about in order to make it simple, because we value food safety. We have to make sure they're following federal law when it comes to the Food Safety Modernization Act,” said Ms. Kenyon.

A juggling act

Field to Family has put an exorbitant amount of miles on their delivery van to serve their growing base, sometimes making multiple trips a day delivering 20-30 pound cases of produce. Warehouse space has also become an issue, with the organization quickly outgrowing its location. The challenge is seeking a bigger and better infrastructure to accommodate a walk-in freezer and the capacity for additional food storage. 

With 2023 under its belt, Field to Family is poised to take on the new year. “We have learned a lot this last year. We've leveled up in a way to meet a larger demand… it's been a game changer,” said Ms. Kenyon.