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Sustainable Iowa Land Trust urges Urbandale to use easements, zoning and partnerships to protect local food farms
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Summary
Katie Doss of the Sustainable Iowa Land Trust told the Urbandale council that conservation easements, targeted outreach and municipal zoning changes can preserve farmland and expand urban agriculture; she urged partnerships with incubators and programs such as Choose Iowa.
Katie Doss, state coordinator for the Sustainable Iowa Land Trust (SILT), told the Urbandale City Council on April 17 that her nonprofit’s work focuses on permanently protecting Iowa farmland and increasing access for beginning farmers.
"Our mission is to permanently protect Iowa's farmland for sustainable food farming and create land access opportunities for new and beginning farmers," Doss said, describing conservation easements and reserve life‑estate agreements as tools tied to deeds that keep land in agricultural use.
Why it matters: Doss said Iowa is losing farmland to development — she cited U.S. Department of Agriculture census figures showing substantial acreage converted between 2017 and 2022 — and argued that easements, while commonly reducing market value of a parcel, can make land more affordable to new farmers and qualify owners for tax incentives and federal easement payments.
Doss walked council members through the mechanics: conservation easements are legal restrictions recorded with a deed, they often reduce a property's market value by roughly 40 percent, and owners may be eligible for programs such as the USDA Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP), which can cover a portion of the easement devaluation.
She also discussed certification and stewardship expectations, saying SILT typically works with third‑party certifications (for example, USDA organic) or a SILT monitoring alternative when a certification does not fit a farmer’s market access. Doss described a 20‑year auto‑renew lease SILT uses to enable tenant farmers to make long‑term investments in soil and infrastructure.
Councilors pressed Doss on how those tools would translate to Urbandale. Bridget, a council participant, asked how the city could encourage urban farming and whether small backyard operations are feasible. Doss said many Urbandale operations are likely to be small scale — backyard chickens, bees or community gardens — and recommended municipal code changes and infrastructure allowances (cold storage, permitted hoop houses, washing stations) to make urban agriculture workable.
Doss pointed to model policies and resources — municipal zoning guides, examples from other cities and the Minnesota metropolitan agriculture preserves effort — and recommended partnerships with incubators and programs (she named Feed Iowa First, Lutheran Services in Iowa and Global Greens) and with institutional‑purchase initiatives such as Choose Iowa to build markets for local producers.
After the presentation the council thanked Doss and indicated staff would review the materials and consider whether Urbandale should examine zoning or incentive changes.
The council took no formal action on land conservation; Doss said SILT is continuing outreach to landowners near the Des Moines metro and will follow up with staff on resources and examples.
