After five years of efforts to develop the local food system, our southeast Iowa region has finally gotten a fulltime Local Food Coordinator. “There are so many opportunities and different ways we can support our local foods,” says Elisabet Humble, the new Coordinator. Humble is working for the non-profit organization Pathfinders RC&D and recently finished classes at Maharishi University of Management for the completion of her Bachelors in Science Sustainable Living degree. Humble will be serving the Hometown Harvest local food region, which includes Davis, Jefferson, Keokuk, Mahaska, Van Buren and Wapello Counties.

For Humble, full-time local food projects include a Farm to School initiative that has six school districts finding farm-to-fork healthy meals for students, and a Farm to Institution program that is looking to bring the same delicious, home-grown foods to hospital patients and elderly people. “The food grown right here around our hometown is much better than ‘big-farm’ food from farther away – in fact, it’s thousands of miles fresher,” gushes Humble when asked why she is drawn to work with local food. “When I know my farmer, I can go and say ‘hello’ to the people and the soil and the plants and the animals that are providing the food on my plate. That makes it really special. I have a farm that comes with my food instead of a box with disclaimers.”

Humble spent most of her life outside of Fort Worth, Texas before moving to Fairfield to finish her degree. “I have always loved agriculture and rural settings, and the opportunity to move to Fairfield to complete my studies was heaven-sent,” she said. Before completing her degree she participated in a Liberal Arts and Paralegal Studies in Fort Worth, planning to go into Environmental Law.

Support for local food production and local sales infrastructure started in southeast Iowa more than five years ago when Buy Fresh Buy Local established a chapter in Fairfield. After momentum for the local food movement spurred growth and expansion, Buy Fresh Buy Local sought support from Pathfinders RC&D, a regional non-profit which focuses on improving rural lives and economies. Pathfinders applied to the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture and the local food project became known as Hometown Harvest of Southeast Iowa, a Value Chain Partner of the Leopold Center. Through that partnership, Pathfinders received funding to hire a Local Food Project Intern in 2008, and at the end of grant term, the Pathfinders RC&D Board of Directors decided to continue with support for the position. Humble has been working part-time as the Local Food Coordinator while she finished her degree.

The Wellmark Foundation, Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship Specialty Crop Block Grant, the Greater Jefferson County Foundation, and Van Buren Foundation provide funding for the projects Humble is working on.