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Here’s how Iowa City schools serve farm-fresh food to kids
Many Iowa schools rely on food hubs like Field to Family to source local produce, dairy for school meals
Aug. 4, 2023 6:00 am, Updated: Aug. 4, 2023 8:47 am
IOWA CITY — After Stephanie McInnis, owner of Bluebird Chestnut Farm in Tipton, built a greenhouse to grow her own vegetables, she wasn’t sure what to do with the surplus.
“We were growing a lot and not using it. We had all these vegetables we were turning back in to mulch,” said McInnis, who operates the farm with her husband.
So this summer and fall, McInnis’ cherry tomatoes will be served to kids in the Iowa City Community School District through Field to Family, a food hub in Iowa City that works with producers to meet the needs of 36 school districts, 17 food agencies and dozens of other small businesses.
McInnis estimates she produces between 80 to 100 pounds of cherry tomatoes a week. The difference in taste of fresh, local produce is amazing, she said.
“It’s better to have vegetables than not, but if you can eat local you’re really getting fresh. We don’t use pesticides, herbicides or preservatives,” McInnis said.
The Iowa City Community School District has served locally-grown produce to students for over a decade. It can be time-consuming creating the school lunch menu based on what produce is locally available, and the cost is slightly higher than ordering wholesale. But it’s “money well spent,” said Alison Demory, the schools nutrition services director.
When the district orders melons from Muscatine, for instance, they are “picked and on plates within a couple of days,” Demory said.
Michelle Kenyon, director of Field to Family, said the company takes the “hassle” out of managing orders from multiple producers, delivery schedules and food safety requirements for schools. It makes it easier for nutrition directors to choose local food options for school lunches, she said.
During the 2023-24 school year, Field to Family expects to purchase over $200,000 in local foods for schools.
Serving local fruits, vegetables and dairy often means educating students — and staff — on new foods. Cherry tomatoes, for example, come in more than just the red color usually seen in grocery stores. There was a learning curve for students and staff trying yellow, purple and striped cherry tomatoes for the first time, said Cindy Smith, a purchasing specialist for Iowa City schools.
Now, cherry tomatoes are some of the kids’ favorite foods, along with watermelon, sweet potatoes and radishes.
The students also prefer yogurt purchased locally from Country View Dairy in Hawkeye, Smith said. Although it’s 20 cents more a carton than what the district can purchase through Martin Bros. Food Market, a wholesale distributor, Smith said she knows it’s made “just days before delivery.”
Bob Howard with Country View Dairy said the local foods movement — a push to eat food grown and harvested near to where it is purchased — helped the dairy grow larger faster. At Country View Dairy, the cows are 50 feet away from the creamery.
“Everything is done on the farm,” Howard said.
There are challenges with sourcing local, especially in Iowa where producers are limited by the growing season, Smith said. Schools have to adhere to strict food standards set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. For example, potatoes must be a certain size for portion control. And larger potatoes take longer to cook — time schools don’t have, Demory said.
While Field to Family sourced local meat from Iowa producers for schools for the first time last year, Iowa City schools does not currently serve local meat or eggs. The amount of food that has to be cooked in a quick time period makes fresh chicken and eggs, especially, a food safety concern, Demory said.
Plus, “it’s not very efficient to crack 100 eggs,” she said.
Marcus Johnson, one of the owners of Buffalo Ridge Orchard in Central City that distributes through Field to Family, said providing apples and other fruits and vegetables to Iowa students fits with their mission statement as a family farm.
“We want to be a grower for our local and regional community,” Johnson said. “It would be hard for us to sell and ship to other states, but that’s not what we got in to business for anyway.”
Comments: (319) 398-8411; grace.king@thegazette.com
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