Food enterprise center proposed for Johnson County

IOWA CITY - The Iowa City Area Development Group hopes to improve Johnson County's local food growing and distribution system with a new food enterprise center.

The center, proposed for a 66,000-square-foot facilities at 3800 Highway 6, would provide space for local food collection and storage, shared kitchen equipment, company incubation and food processing for food organizations.

'It would house multiple different groups with similar missions, similar causes, to ultimately grow and create an ecosystem that will help support local foods and a local foods economy going forward,” said Tom Banta, director of strategic growth for ICAD, who presented the plan to the Johnson County Board of Supervisors Wednesday.

The Board of Supervisors would purchase the disused U.S. Foods distribution center for about $4.5 million and ICAD would operate the facility. The supervisors decided to consider hiring a consultant to determine whether it was a good opportunity for the county.

'I want people to be able to come into this concept without having to be super naive, having some foundation that allows them to be able to invest better in themselves and in the food space, which is what I think this is. This provides a platform for food entrepreneurs to be able to invest in themselves,” said Jake Gratzon, co-founder of the Old Capitol Food Co., a tofu producer, which would be a tenant of the building.

Banta said much of the food Johnson County residents eat isn't local because there isn't a good way for local farmers to sell their food on a large scale, or much of an incentive to expand their farms. The enterprise center, Banta said, could to combine many local farmers' produce and sell it to large institutions such as area hospitals or school districts.

'Having the ability to aggregate and bring in a high level of supply to ultimately meet demand will lend itself naturally to supporting this local mission,” Banta said.

Supervisor Janelle Rettig said during the Supervisors' work session she was concerned with finding room in next year's budget to purchase the building and with whether the county should get involved at all. She said other issues, such as affordable housing, should be funded first.

'I think enterprises like this are better left to the private sector. I don't think government actually should be in the role of business,” Rettig said.

But Board Chairman Rod Sullivan said if the county did purchase the building and the center isn't successful, the supervisors could choose to sell the land, which is situated near several highways.

'After five years, I think if you decided to sell, I don't the county would lose any money,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan said the board will plan to place the building purchase vote on an agenda around January. A decision has to be made before the board finishes up next year's county budget around the end of February.