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Healthy Harvest asks Winnebago County for $2,114 to support local food programming
Summary
Healthy Harvest of North Iowa presented the county board with an annual funding request of $2,114 to support farmers markets, farm-to-school work and a regional local-food guide; no funding decision was recorded at the meeting.
Healthy Harvest of North Iowa asked the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors for $2,114 in annual funding during a presentation at a county meeting. Andrea Elsizer, executive director of Healthy Harvest, described the organization’s work across nine counties, its local-food guide and efforts to connect students with local producers.
The request is intended to serve as local match for federal grant applications and to support Healthy Harvest’s programs in the region. “I’m Andrea Elsizer, and I’m the executive director with Healthy Harvest of North Iowa,” Elsizer told the board while distributing the group’s annual request and impact materials.
Healthy Harvest said it works with farmers markets in Winnebago County, including Lake Mills and Forest City, and that it printed a regional local-food guide this year. Elsizer said the guide is distributed free to consumers and that the organization prints 10,000 copies to promote producers and markets across the nine-county region. She described technical support provided to the Lake Mills market, cooking demonstrations at local markets, and a reprint of the guide after a farm-tour event highlighted newly opened farm stores that aggregate products from several producers.
Elsizer also outlined the group’s farm-to-school outreach, saying Healthy Harvest is planning visits and classroom activities with a Lake Mills school’s environmental science classes to connect students with local farmers and to offer demonstrations.
Elsizer told the board that the $2,114 request has been an ongoing annual ask; she said the county provided some funding in 2017 but that subsequent fulfillment had not occurred. She emphasized that local funds help the organization demonstrate community investment when applying for federal grants.
No vote on the funding request was recorded in the transcript of this meeting.
Ending: Board members asked a few logistical questions about retail outlets and producer listings; Elsizer said sign-ups for next year’s guide continue into February and that the organization plans to distribute the updated guide at an Earth Day event in Clear Lake.
