By Angela Holmes
CEDAR RAPIDS—Local foods are not only good for your health, they are good for the economy, says a new study.
The study, released in late 2014 by the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, found that local food sales, jobs created in the local foods sector and the budget allotted for buying local foods are steadily increasing.
In a 2013 survey the study cites, 120 farmers reported the total value of food sold to local markets, including directly to customers, institutions such as hospitals, and grocers and restaurants, totaled about $13 million in 2013, up from $10.5 million in 2012. Average farm sales were up slightly for the same time period, to $108,620 from $102,420.
The report also highlights “local food champions” throughout Iowa who are making a concerted effort to boost the local foods industry. One of those is the Food and Nutrition Services Department at Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids.
When former Blend restaurant owner and chef Andy Deutmeyer joined the Mercy staff as chef in 2009, he wanted to incorporate local foods into the meals like he did at his downtown Cedar Rapids restaurant.
The hospital tried a pilot program working with community-supported agriculture (CSA) programs once or twice a month to feature local foods. While the quality of food was good, the quantity wasn’t.
“We had a volume problem, but it really was the right thing to do,” Mr. Deutmeyer said.  “When we say we need big volumes, we mean it. We can go through 50 pounds of cabbage a day.”
According to Mr. Deutmeyer, Mercy serves 3,500 meals a day to patients, visitors and staff, totaling about 1.25 million meals per year.
Despite the difficulties in finding producers who could provide adequate quantities, Mr. Deutmeyer and Pam Oldham, co-director of Food and Nutrition Services, pressed on in their effort to use as much local food as possible.
The tide began to change in 2011 after Mr. Deutmeyer was featured in a Mercy Touch magazine article. The article outlining the chef’s desire to use local foods caught the eye of Fern Unruh, who had just opened Rolling Hills Farm in West Union with her husband, Eric, and son, Jason.
Rolling Hills had opened a 12,000-square-foot hydroponic greenhouse in April 2011 with hopes of being connected to a local food distributor, according to Jason Unruh. When that fell through, Ms. Unruh brought a couple of heads of lettuce to Mercy to show Mr. Deutmeyer. He was pleasantly surprised when she told him Rolling hills had 1,100 heads of lettuce at any given time.
“We were both looking for each other,” Mr. Deutmeyer said. “It takes both of us – we count on each other.”
After Ms. Unruh found success with Mercy, she told other producers of the hospital’s need for large quantities of local food, who in turn contacted Mr. Deutmeyer and Ms. Oldham.
“One guy (Glen Yost of Yost Farms in West Union) brings 300 pounds of tomatoes a week,” Mr. Deutmeyer said. “We started getting tomatoes, peppers, onions, strawberries – it just grew from there.”
In 2012, Mercy used 20,000 pounds of local food, representing $50,000 of its budget. By 2014, those numbers had doubled.
“We keep finding new growers,” Ms. Oldham said. “Some have expanded because of us.”
The local food is incorporated into the budget and doesn’t cost more, Ms. Oldham said. For example, Mercy used to buy pre-sliced tomatoes, which cost more than whole tomatoes from local growers.
“Andy brought knife skills with him and was able to do it himself,” Ms. Oldham said.
Local food not only is more cost-efficient, Mr. Deutmeyer said, but tastes better and is healthier than processed foods. The local offerings have become so popular at the Mercy cafeteria that some area residents and workers eat there for lunch.
“It is restaurant that happens to be sitting in the middle of a hospital,” Mr. Deutmeyer said.
Reciprocal growth
Mercy’s arrangement to buy large quantities of produce on a regular basis also greatly benefits the producers.
“If given the choice to go around to several farmers markets a week or dropping off big quantities a once a week, they’ll do this,” Mr. Deutmeyer said.
Jason Unruh of Rolling Hills agreed with that sentiment. Last Tuesday, his route included trips to Cedar Falls, Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, the Quad Cities and Dubuque.
“We can go directly to the consumer with a fresher product at an affordable price,” he said.
With the increasing push for local foods, Rolling Hills has increased sales since 2011 and completed an addition to their growing area in 2013, Mr. Unruh said.
While Mercy serves local foods all throughout the year, it will pick up in March and April with early asparagus. The primary growing season will remain steady though at least October, Ms. Oldham said.
“We start calling growers in February,” Mr. Deutmeyer said, adding that Mercy is always willing to talk to new prospects.
“It takes time, and it takes the right grower,” he said. “This is what they do. We’ve met their families, their kids are helping after school – it’s good to see that.”
