Another exciting thing about joining PFI was the fact that their annual conference was going to be held this year just a couple miles from my home and it was packed with all sorts of interesting presentations.  I attended the conference this Friday and Saturday and it was a very informative and enjoyable time.  It also seemed that about anyone involved in sustainable agriculture and local foods was in attendance.

I attended a session for new farmers or people considering the plunge, and a sustainable energy production session on Friday.  I also had the pleasure of seeing my fellow Cornellian, Laura Krouse, receive the Spencer Award honoring farmers, educators and researchers who have made a significant contribution toward stability of mainstream family farms in Iowa.  Laura operates Abbe Hills Gardens, a 120 family CSA near Mount Vernon.

We brought the whole family to King Corn Friday night.  Anne and I, and our ten year old son found it very entertaining and informative.  Our six year old daughter only lasted through half the movie.  She hadn’t gone to the movie with high expectations but the next morning said that it was better than she expected.  Anyhow, the rest of us highly recommend it.

Kamyar Enshayan from UNI was presented with the Sustainable Agriculture Achievement Award Saturday morning. Kamyar has been promoting local food for over a decade including establishing the Buy Fresh Buy Local campaign in Northeast Iowa. 

Also on Saturday I sat in on an update on the Iowa Food Cooperative, listened to Richard de Wilde of Harmony Valley Farm describe how he went from a $500 loss in the mid 70s to a profitable 1000 family CSA today.  We learned about all the planning, management, equipment and people that go into an operation of that size.

The only disappoint for me was to hear that next year’s conference won’t be quite so close to home, but will be held instead at Marshalltown Community College.

I’ve been thinking about joining Practical Farmers of Iowa for quite a few years now and finally did this winter.  PFI has been a leader in exploring environmentally friendly and economically successful farming approaches, and promoting local foods for years.  About a year ago I read their press release announcing the creation of the Iowa Food Cooperative and knew that I wanted to get involved.  I had been seriously looking at ways to evolve this Think Global Eat Local web site into an online ordering system but it was clear that I should see how I could get involved with the IFC instead.

The Iowa Food Cooperative is going to be a web based system that allows consumers to order locally produced products from local farmers on a monthly basis (to start).  Those orders will be collected and distributed from a central location (in Des Moines at the start).  It is modelled after similar systems in place in Oklahoma and Nebraska.  The IFC should supplement existing farmer’s markets and CSAs, by providing more staple products then those markets.

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