Subject: local food systems paper from Iowa

From: Andy Clark <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 8 Nov 1999 10:06:03 -0500

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Mon, 8 Nov 1999 07:54:31 -0600
To: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 8 Nov 1999 07:54:25 -0600
Subject: local food systems paper from Iowa

For immediate release:

          Contact: Rich Pirog, (515) 294-3711
          RELEASED: November 1999

          APPLES TO APPLES: A PERSPECTIVE ON
          LOCAL FOOD SYSTEMS

          AMES, IOWA--Once a top apple-producing state, Iowa
          now provides a fraction of the fresh apples eaten by
          Iowans annually. More information about changes in
          Iowa's apple industry, and potential for local sales today, is
          now available in a report on the Leopold Center for
          Sustainable Agriculture's World Wide Web site
          (http://www.leopold.iastate.edu).

          Authored by Education program coordinator Rich Pirog
          and intern John Tyndall, the paper is a vehicle for exploring
          the potential for local food systems to augment Iowa farm
          income. Market studies show a growing interested in local
          food systems, where local farmers sell their products to
          nearby consumers. The authors estimates that about 15
          percent of the 1.3 million bushels of fresh apples consumed
          by Iowans each year are Iowa-grown.

          While a typical Iowa-grown apple is sold within one day to
          two months of picking, apples grown in Washington can be
          kept for eight months or longer in controlled atmosphere
          storage before sale, allowing nearly year-round availability
          in the nation?s grocery stores.

          Some Iowans may not know that the Delicious variety was
          discovered as a chance seedling by Madison County
          farmer Jesse Hiatt, nor that Iowa was once a top
          apple-producing state, producing a peak 9.5 million
          bushels in 1911. The Iowa apple industry was devastated
          in 1940, however, by the infamous Armistice Day freeze
          which killed many apple trees. Today, Iowa ranks 31st
          among the 36 states that grow apples commercially.
          Washington state ranks first in U.S. apple production,
          growing more than half of the nation's fresh apples.

          Graphics depicting the pathways taken by Iowa- and
          Washington-grown apples are included with the paper, as
          well as suggestions for increasing the potential for local
          food systems in Iowa, using apples as an example. Printed
          copies of the paper are also available by contacting the
          Leopold Center, 209 Curtiss Hall, ISU, Ames, IA
          50011-1050; phone (515) 294-3711; e-mail
          [email-masked].

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