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REGIONAL
FOOD SYSTEM FACTS
Does your
area need a business or industry that:
- provides
jobs?
- creates
wealth?
- increases
economic development?
- is a mortgage
lifter?
- draws additional
businesses to the area?
- grows new
businesses?
- builds
on the current infrastructure?
- adds to
quality of life?
- reduces
farm debt?
- retains
rural population?
- offers
opportunities for entrepreneurs?
- sustains
rural communities?
- improves
health for youth, adults and families?
A regional
food system supports long-term connections between farmers and
consumers while meeting the economic, social, health, and environmental
needs of the communities within the region. Producers and markets
are linked via infrastructures that are efficient, promote environmental
health, provide competitive advantage to producers, processors,
and retailers, encourage identification with the region's culture,
history, and ecology, and equitably share risks and rewards among
all partners in the system.
What is a
region? The initial definition of a Southwest Iowa region is based
on a community landscape, history, and culture, and includes these
counties: Adams, Adair, Cass, Guthrie, Audubon, Shelby, Pottawattamie,
and Montgomery.
However, a
regional food system is complex and dynamic. It will change and/or
grow determined by community leaders, infrastructure, food policy,
and all partners in the food system.
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Facts
supporting the value of a regional food system:
- Local food
purchases by institutional food buyers in Black Hawk and surrounding
counties increased from $110,773 by three institutions in 1998
to $465,361 by 23 institutions in 2004. (Kamyar Enshayan, Director,
University of Northern Iowa Local Foods Project.)
- If Iowans
ate five servings of fruits and vegetables every day and bought
that produce (apples, carrots, spinach, squash and tomatoes)
for just three months of the year from local growers the economic
impact would net $302 million in total economic output, $112
million in total labor income, and 4,094 jobs in Iowa. Production
would require 31,800 acres of cropland or an average of 321
acres per county. (The Economic Impacts of Increased Fruit and
Vegetable Production and Consumption in Iowa: Phase II. Swenson,
David, et. al. Report to the Leopold Center for Sustainable
Agriculture, Iowa State University. 2006.)
- A diet
rich in fruits and vegetables would maximize good health and
substantially decrease the rate of diet-related diseases such
as heart disease and diabetes and could prevent at least 20
percent of all cancer incidence. (Food, Nutrition, and the Prevention
of Cancer: A Global Perspective. American Institute for Cancer
Research, 1997.)
- A local
food purchasing policy and county tax incentives for organic
production resulted in several new businesses interested in
locating in Woodbury County, Iowa. (Rob Marqusee, Woodbury County
Economic Development Director.)
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