Linn County may join local food council movement

CEDAR RAPIDS --Linn County may become the fourth in Iowa to create a citizens' committee to take a closer look at how and what we eat.

County supervisors will consider a proposal at Monday's work session to create a county food systems policy council.

The group of volunteer county residents "would be sort of an advisory to the board of supervisors and other communities or boards in the county on issues and policies that relate to agriculture or food," said Jason Grimm, food systems planner for Amana-based Iowa Valley Resource, Conservation and Development.

The county council would hold at least two public meetings a year for producers, processors and consumers to discuss diet, health, agriculture, and related issues, Grimm said. Its members may also weight in on county planning and zoning issues that could affect agriculture.

Johnson County supervisors approved a similar council last month and will appoint 10 to 16 board members next week, said Andy Johnson, executive assistant to the county board. Councils are also active in Cass and Pottawatomie counties.

"This is something that's been kind of a movement across the country," Grimm said.

The Iowa Food Systems Council is addressing the same issues statewide. Created by an executive order by then-Gov. Tom Vilsack in 2000, the council died with its funding six years later but was revived in 2008.

"A number of people felt it was important to continue the work," said council president Fritz Nordgren.

In its new form the statewide council is a non-profit, not a government organization.

"That independence gives a lot of people who wanted to participate in the process the freedom to do so and to participate from a lot of different points of view," said Nordgren, an assistant professor at Des Moines University who operates "a very small, very small poultry operation" in Decatur County.

The state council sponsored two Farm and Fields Forums last year, one keyed to grower and producer issues, the second to processing and transport of Iowa-produced produce and meats. A "summit" meeting on healthy farms and healthy people is being planned for November in northeast Iowa, Nordgren said.

The councils are about more than the local-food movement, Nordgren said.

"Local foods is a part of it, but it's also a recognition we need large-scale food production to feed not only the people of Iowa but the people of the world," he said. "Our goal is always to find what's the common ground. You have a different approach to sustainability, but you have the same concerns."

Grimm said a Linn County council wouldn't need much government funding, if any.

"There could be some project-related expenses if the board wants the council wants to do some research on something," he said. "Right now, we're not going to be asking the board for any funds. We'd just like the board to have a commitment to the council and maybe dedicate a little staff time."

After operating on a budget of just $4,400 last year, the state council landed grants from the state and U.S. agriculture departments and a private foundation to boost its budget to about $60,000, Nordgren said.

Linn County supervisors will meet at 9 a.m. Monday at Linn County West at Westdale Mall.