Food co-op proposed for linking area farmers to customers

Interest in organic and locally-grown food could lead to the formation of a food-buying club cooperative in the Linn and Johnson county area.

A survey released Wednesday by the Iowa River Valley RC&D showed high interest in establishing a co-op that would link shoppers with local farmers.

The co-op would be patterned after similar clubs in Oklahoma, Nebraska and the Iowa Food Cooperative in Des Moines, said Jason Grimm, food system planner for the Amana-based RC&D.

Grimm said no timeline has been set, but if supporters could join as an offshoot of the Des Moines co-op, the idea could develop faster.

Nearly 60 percent of survey respondents rated buying locally-grown food as extremely to very important. Top products requested were fresh fruits and vegetables, chicken, eggs, beef and cheese.

Top reasons respondents would join were to obtain fresh food, support local family farmers and the local economy.

Food safety was the most important reason cited for purchasing food from a co-op, followed by low price, good land stewardship practices and humanely-raised animals.

The proposed cooperative would work like this:

• Information about farmers, their practices and available products would be listed on the cooperative's Web site;

• Farmers would set their own prices;

• Consumer members would place orders online during an ordering cycle, possibly once a month;

• Farmers would bring their products to a central distribution point on an appointed day and volunteers would sort products for each order;

• Consumers would pick up their orders and write a check to the co-op. The cooperative would then pay farmers.

Grimm said no site or sites have been selected for a distribution point.

He said the co-op differs from Iowa City-based New Pioneer Food Co-op, a member-owned grocery. Nor would it compete with farmers markets or Community Supported Agriculture enterprises.

“I think it's just another opportunity,” he said. “It will help the accessibility of these products.”