Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Local Food Programs topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Healthy Harvest of North Iowa asks Worth County to continue funding local-food work
Summary
Healthy Harvest of North Iowa presented to the Worth County Board of Supervisors asking the county to continue the same level of financial support, described its programs across nine counties and its farm-to-school efforts, and explained membership and outreach benefits for local producers.
Andrea Evelsizer, executive director of Healthy Harvest of North Iowa, told the Worth County Board of Supervisors that the nonprofit is seeking the same county contribution as last year to support local-food programming across the region.
Evelsizer said Healthy Harvest works in nine counties in North Central Iowa and supports local food producers, food businesses and consumer education. “We do a lot of things like support local food producers, local food businesses, and connecting and educating consumers about where to find local food,” she said.
The organization provides a printed local-food guide (about 10,000 copies), maintains an online searchable index, runs the Grow Eat Play outreach campaign, and prioritizes guide-listed producers for demonstrations and classes, Evelsizer said. Membership for producers and food businesses is $65 a year, she said, and members receive priority listing, promotional profiles and opportunities to participate in demonstrations and workshops.
Tim Knutson, a Healthy Harvest board member who lives in Worth County, accompanied Evelsizer and answered questions about local market activity and producer recruitment.
Evelsizer said Healthy Harvest has added a full-time farm-to-school coordinator funded for the next couple of years and is applying for a farm-to-school grant due the week of the board meeting to deepen school partnerships. She described an ongoing, long-term effort to recruit producers and to increase school engagement so younger students learn about where food comes from.
The board asked several procedural questions and thanked the presenters. No formal county action or funding decision was made during the presentation; Evelsizer asked the board to consider the same contribution as in prior years so the nonprofit can plan for the budget year.
Healthy Harvest staff and board members said they will continue outreach in Worth County, including visits to local farmers markets and coordination with schools and FFA chapters where possible.
The presentation began at the meeting’s public-agenda time and concluded after a question-and-answer period.
