By Alicia Ambler
Local Foods and Planning Specialist Shanti Sellz leverages Iowa City’s slow food ethos and penchant for entrepreneurship to deliver fresh produce throughout Johnson county.
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Whether it’s Iowa City’s bustling Saturday farmers market, our seasonal celebrations of local foods or our thriving collection of school gardens, Iowa-grown foods are an enormous part of our local landscape. The farm-to-table concept, which was once a niche market, is now largely the norm. Diners can find a variety of cuisines to satisfy their diverse appetites while still feeding on local foods, with restaurants from El Bandito’s to Augusta priding themselves on their ingredient sourcing. Grocery stores also boast vast selections of foods produced in the area. Recent years have seen not just a significant uptick in the visibility and availability of local foods, but new ways for them to reach us.
These shifts are especially vital because while Iowa City has a thriving local foods economy, that’s not the case for all of Johnson County. If the locavore movement is to continue to succeed in our area, the focus needs to shift to expanding more markets and reaching more consumers.
In a major move toward that end, the Johnson County Board of Supervisors recently created a position for a Local Foods and Planning Specialist. Farmer Shanti Sellz of Muddy Miss Farms took the position, part of the Planning, Development and Sustainability office, in the fall of 2015. Sellz’s position, which began with assessing the state of the local food system, is a major investment in that system in and by the county. And she believes that it will allow the area to support a more cohesive community-based food system.
Sellz works in concert with a variety of organizations in the community, including the Johnson County Food Policy Council, which holds annual open meetings to solicit feedback from the community about issues related to local foods. Together they have worked hard to encourage the growth of local foods in Johnson County, which Sellz sees as a unique environment for local food growers.
One early success of the new collaboration is an amendment to the county poultry ordinance, allowing small farms to process birds on their own, rather than sending them to off-site processing facilities. “By allowing that ordinance to be amended, Johnson County is really acknowledging that small producers need more support,” Sellz said. “Farmers need to be able to have more agency [over] the food they’re producing and the people they’re selling it to.”
It is, Sellz says, a unique time for growth in the area of local foods, both directly to consumers and in other markets. Her position gives her unique perspective into the variety of resources that currently exist, and how they might be brought together. “There’s already so much momentum. All the pieces were there, they were just in their own silos.”
As local foods have risen in availability, much of the focus has been on the direct-to-consumer market. Sellz understands and values the predominance and success of that model in Iowa City—like the farmers market—but believes that producers in the county need to have a broader market.
“I’ve been able to sell every single piece of food that I’ve grown here [in Iowa City]. That isn’t the case in other parts of Iowa. We have a really great starting point here,” Sellz says. “No local farmer in Johnson County should be sitting on their produce. The demand is so expansive that we should be able to move most of the produce that’s grown here. There’s so much opportunity here. It’s incredible.”
There are many challenges for new producers in the area, particularly land price and access. New producers need support to surmount these difficulties by tapping current resources in the community and increasing collaboration. And that’s where Sellz and her office come in.
Coming into her role, Sellz sees the trend in local foods moving away from individual producers and more toward aggregation, particularly the food hub model, as a way to engage more sectors of the population. The 1105 Project is a production hub that helps small value-added processors gain access to professional kitchen equipment in urban Iowa City. This type of aggregated production maximizes local resources and supports new and smaller producers as they grow.
Sellz is hopeful that the aggregation of the future will ensure greater institutionalized distribution, benefitting all parts of our food system. She says that “many different sectors of the food system are working together to create more resources that support the food producers, businesses and consumers.”
Field to Family is one organization that’s working to increase access to local foods on an institutional level. It runs the Iowa City chapter of Farm to School, a program aimed at getting more local foods and food education in public schools. In addition to supporting school gardens and running educational farmer fairs in local schools, Farm to School has worked hard on expanding local food procurement in the Iowa City Community School District (ICCSD). With Michelle Kenyon as a Field to Family liaison, a variety of local foods have been consumed in school cafeterias, including sweet potatoes from Beal Fine Meats and Produce, apples from Wilson’s Orchard, cherry tomatoes from Friendly Farm and Green Share LLC, zucchini from Organic Greens and cucumbers from Buffalo Ridge Farm. In 2014, 5,430 pounds of local produce were served in ICCSD cafeterias. In 2015, that number increased to 12,613, far exceeding Field to Family’s goal of 5% annual increases.
These and other new models show that local food is viable in this area, but that the impact of local foods can be more effective through markets that move beyond direct-to-consumer. According to the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, “Local/regional food commerce is growing … and sales to institutional and intermediated markets such as grocery stores and restaurants are eclipsing direct-to-consumer sales and creating jobs.”
And while there still may be work to do, Sellz seems certain that there will be greater opportunities for small producers in the future and that her collaboration with the Council ensures community voices will be heard.
Alicia Ambler lives in Iowa City with her husband, daughter, and dog.
Food the new-fashioned way
With the food chain changing from top to bottom, these local chefs and purveyors are bringing us meals in innovative new ways:
The Farmer’s Table
Local chef Chris Grebner has worked hard over the past three years to make his dream a reality. His concept of creating a restaurant uniting local farmers and consumers over a meal is a charming one, but what makes his concept unique is the fact that this is all done without ever existing in a brick and mortar location. The Farmer’s Table, Grebner’s pop-up restaurant, hosts prix-fixe dinners in a variety of locations ranging from quaint coffee shops to expansive backyards to neighborhood bakeries. The location informs the food, as Grebner sources his ingredients from local farmers in the surrounding area to prepare delicious and innovative plates for diners to enjoy. The local farmers who have partnered with Grebner are in turn invited to the dinner in hopes of facilitating a meaningful dialogue between consumers and purveyors. Dinners are usually small and intimate and spots can be claimed quickly. Secure your spot for the next dinner by signing up for their newsletter online.
Four Square Meals
After the closure of Iowa City’s beloved vegan restaurant, Red Avocado, Chef David Burt launched the weekly meal distribution service Four Square Meals. The healthful, tasty dishes are rich in locally-sourced grains and veggies and have won over legions of non-vegans with fare like Seitan Sunday Roast and Mung Bean Magic salad. A variety of meal options are on offer—whether for one or two eaters, gluten-free or ultra low-fat diners—and meals can be conveniently picked up in downtown Iowa City or delivered in the area.
Dumpling Darling
130 N. Dubuque St., Iowa City
For most restauranteurs, the right space is a must, but for Dumpling Darling proprietor Leslie Triplett, brick and mortar was more of a natural evolution. She started off selling Korean-style dumplings as a hobby at the Iowa City Farmers Market in summer 2014. But demand quickly grew, and within a year she opened a commercial kitchen space above John’s Grocery and expanded sales to Cedar Rapids’ NewBo Market. Meanwhile, her dumplings could be scooped up by hungry shoppers at New Pioneer Coop, Bread Garden Market and across the UI campus. In early 2016, Dumpling Darling’s steamed bao buns, soups and more found a permanent home alongside the brisket of Pop’s Old ‘N’ New Bar-B-Que. Triplett knows it’s an unconventional move for a dumpling joint and a barbecue spot to share a home. “But I think it will be a great dynamic,” she said.
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