Our goal is to create a comprehensive list that Eastern Iowans can use to find sources for local foods and goods as well as information on acceptable non-local products when there is no better alternative.
Why choose local?
According to a 2002 report from the USDA, the average grocery item travels 1500 miles to get to your table. The local food movement is getting a lot of attention due to popularity of recent books including Barbara Kingsolver's book, Plenty and The 100 Mile Diet by Alisa Smith, and several others. What are some of the issues that make people want to "go local"?- Shipping food all over the world consumes huge amounts of fuel for transportation and energy needed for refrigeration. This is bad for the environment and increases our dependence on foreign oil. Local food reduces this energy use.
- Food is often picked days and weeks early so that it appears "ripe" when it gets to the store. This affects both taste and nutrient quality. Local food doesn't spend weeks on a truck and can be much fresher with the nutrients intact.
- Only certain varieties of fruits and vegetables can withstand the transport and storage times that the typical food journey entails. This means that the food choices that we have are based on durability and appearance rather than flavor or nutrient content.
- People want to support their local economy by keeping their dollars within their community.
- People want to know how their food is grown. Factory farms are known for the horrible conditions in which their animals are raised. Knowing your farmer allows you to trust that your groceries are produced in ways that are compatible with your personal criteria for humane treatment of animals, and pesticide and fertilizer use.
How to use this site:
On the left menu bar are categories of food and goods. Within each category are lists of local producers and information about their offerings. Occasionally a non-local item or company will be listed if it meets certain criteria for being a better decision than what is widely available. Tips, information, resources and product reviews will also be listed to help us all make more informed choices. There is a lot of conflicting information out there, but we will do the best we can to sort it out.Obviously we will be dependent on the community to keep the site up to date. If you know of a local source or product that should be listed on our site, let us know. If you have a great link or tip that you would like listed, let us know. If you have any ideas for making this site better let us know. If you would like to donate time or money to keep this site operational let us know. At some point we may accept local producers/company to advertise to offset some of the webhosting and printing costs. If you are interested let us know.
Also, you can get be notified of updates and participate in discussions by joining our new yahoo group!
