Category Archives: Local Food

Reasons To Source Food Locally

Posted on July 26, 2021 by Paul Deaton

The author’s garden yield on Saturday, July 24, 2021. Despite near drought conditions most of this growing season, our garden is producing the best crop I can remember. Our ability to irrigate is most of that. I’m also becoming a … Continue reading →

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What’s Wrong With Our Food System?

Posted on July 24, 2019 by Paul Deaton

There is a strong argument nothing is wrong with our food system. There is a strong argument everything is wrong with our food system. To talk about a “food system” at all presumes a lot that may or may not … Continue reading →

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A Difficult And Strange Season Of Weather

Posted on August 15, 2018 by Paul Deaton

By Carmen Black (Editor’s Note: Iowa Farmers deal with an existential reality that is the weather. Regardless of increasingly polarized discussions about climate change, weather affects real people in tangible ways. Carmen recently wrote this piece to members of her … Continue reading →

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Grit Alone Won’t Protect Local Food Systems

Posted on October 5, 2017 by Paul Deaton

The marketplace of home vegetable gardens, community supported agriculture, farmers markets, road side vegetable stands, restaurants, retail interests and direct farm sales hasn’t coalesced into a sustainable local food system, and may not. One should never doubt the resilience of … Continue reading →

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Organic Food’s Sticky Wicket

Posted on July 17, 2017 by Paul Deaton

When people think of local food, most have seasonal sweet corn and tomatoes in mind. That hasn’t changed much in years. The quest for good-tasting food that does no harm has also been around for a long time. Organic food … Continue reading →

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In an Iowa Kitchen

Posted on August 10, 2016 by Paul Deaton

The local food movement relies more on kitchens than grocery stores; more on gardens than commercial growers. While use of locally sourced food by many restaurants has changed to include more of it, a local foods movement cannot be sustained … Continue reading →

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Women Protecting Pollinators, Protecting Food

Posted on August 20, 2015 by Paul Deaton

Nine fantastic breakout sessions are scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 7, during the 2015 Women, Food and Agriculture Network annual conference in Davenport. Click here to learn more about the conference and to register. On Saturday, learn the basics of starting a … Continue reading →

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Taking Local Out Of Local Food

Posted on August 14, 2015 by Paul Deaton

Ingredients for this kale salad were grown within 100 feet of our kitchen. It is as local as food gets. We enjoy garden produce in high summer — when nature’s bounty yields so much food we either preserve or give … Continue reading →

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Organic Food & The Farmer's Face

Posted on April 24, 2015 by Paul Deaton

Is the local food movement here to stay? Intellectually, how could it not be? The future must necessarily be one of producing food much closer to where people live, especially as transportation costs escalate, and current food sources in the … Continue reading →

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Feeding The World–Iowa-Style

Posted on July 25, 2014 by Paul Deaton

Iowa Can’t Feed the World; Local Producers Can’t Either The frequent jeremiad of big agriculture is about propping them up so Iowa farmers can feed the world. Political speeches at the recent opening of a first of its kind biorational … Continue reading →

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