LFS Executive Summary – Iowa

Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS) proposes an eighteen-month project to purchase and distribute $2,193,501 of Iowa produced and made foods to K-12 Schools in Iowa. Students across Iowa in rural and urban settings continue to be impacted by lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, school food nutrition labor shortages and supply chain disruptions. The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and Department of Education are well suited and prepared to implement LFS because of the tremendous network of School Food Nutrition Directors, food hub businesses, producer groups, value chain coordinators and other non-profit organizations and coalitions. Iowa’s networks and coalitions are built upon 20 years of collaborative work that has been cross cutting throughout the food system value chain. IDALS plans to partner with the Iowa Department of Education, Iowa Valley RC&D, Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, Iowa’s Food Hub Managers Working Group (FHMWG) to strategically implement the Local Food Purchase Assistance (LFS) program in Iowa to build the capacity for local procurement in schools through strong local food distribution networks