A Good Start at Building a Successful Local Food System in Iowa

• Main Author: Susan L. Valentino
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Thomas A. Lyson Center for Civic Agriculture and Food Systems 2017-12-01
• Series: Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development
• Subjects: Local Food; Iowa; Food Production
• Online Access: https://www.foodsystemsjournal.org/index.php/fsj/article/view/549

First paragraph: I have been frustrated by the lack of in-depth food and nutrition information available for both teaching and research regarding the effects of food on human health; hence I have been search­ing for tools that I can use to help educators, students, and the general public understand the U.S. food system. Making Local Food Work falls nicely into that category. Right from the outset, author Brandi Janssen does a marvelous job of describing a wide variety of interesting and inno­vative approaches being used by a new generation of producers in the now fastest-growing segment of the whole food industry: local food. In this review I share my thoughts about Janssen’s work from several points of view—as an academic, an educator, an advocate, and a small farmer and market vendor.