Northern Iowa Food & Farm Partnership

Supporting the development of a local & regional food economy that positively impacts local farmers, consumers & businesses through education, collaboration, and economic development.

The Northern Iowa Food & Farm Partnership seeks to be part of a broad based effort to create a more local & regional food system that improves the economic viability & environmental sustainability of producers & communities throughout Iowa.

The second annual farm crawl will be held in the greater Cedar Valley area on Sunday, September 9th from 1:00-5:00 p.m. Learn how local farmers grow your food and manage their farms on this self-guided tour. You might even find fun kids' activities and local foods to buy and cook up for dinner! Visit the Center for Energy and Environmental Education's home page (www.uni.edu/ceee) for a map and details about each participating farm.

 

History


The University of Northern Iowa Local Food Project began its work in 1997 and has created a strong foundation. Now, in order to significantly expand the scope of our work, the Northern Iowa Food & Farm Partnership (NIFFP) has been formed to spread the leadership and ownership of this important work by involving many stakeholders in our seven-county region (Benton, Black Hawk, Bremer, Buchanan, Butler, Grundy, and Tama).

 

Today


The Northern Iowa Food & Farm Partnership strengthens the local food economy in Iowa by:

  • Publishing both a printed and an online directory of local growers and participating food businesses and institutions.
  • Serving as a marketing resource to local growers, food businesses, and institutions.
  • Notifying food buyers of  local food availability on a weekly basis.
  • Promoting farmers markets, organizing farm tours, and sponsoring regional food festivals and related events.
  • Managing our local Buy Fresh, Buy Local campaign.
  • Participating in regional food systems working groups, collaborating with other food systems communities of practice, and sharing our successes with other communities and policy makers.
  • Securing funding to ensure our organization’s future and recruiting new food champions to join us in our work.

 

Join us!


We are looking for partners & supporters of our work. We invite growers, consumers, food & farm businesses, institutions, community leaders, and city/state government representatives to be a part of our efforts and help us accomplish our goals.

If you are interested in being involved, please contact Kamyar.Enshayan@uni.edu or (319)273-7575.