Enabling Environments Des Moines, Iowa, Local Food System Overall Findings The following themes have emerged as key enabling factors and hindrances to the local food system as defined by a sampling of active, engaged key participants in the Des Moines, Iowa local foods system. Social Capital Social capital is a critical enabling factor for food system participants in Des Moines. Participants oftentimes rely upon their relationships with institutions, organizations, and individuals. These relationships are yielded to leverage additional human, cultural, political, built, financial, and natural resources; where there is a lack of resources, social capital can be utilized to acquire and/or develop additional resources and relationships. Though participants identified many organizational and individual relationships as enabling to the Des Moines local foods system, Eat Greater Des Moines tended to be most salient as an impactful social relationship. Eat Greater Des Moines meetings, for many participants, served as a space where valuable social relationships were formed, strengthened, and leveraged for additional resources identified as critical to local foods systems success. For those new to local foods systems work, a relationship with the group was identified as absolutely critical for initial networking. Additionally, participants overall found value in getting updates on others work and finding room for collaboration at Eat Greater Des Moines meetings. While many participants felt that updates shared between Eat Greater Des Moines event attendees were valuable, other participants felt that real collaboration was limited, and this lack of real collaboration was perceived by some participants to be a hindrance to local foods systems work in Des Moines. Some participants felt that feelings of competition among Eat Greater Des Moines conveners and attendees prevented the group from garnering wider participation and support: I think they're also a hindrance and, not them as a group but, the funding behind them because they end up needing to be competitive and don't always trust outsiders coming in. So it took longer for me to build trust with them than it did the rest of the community. Further, some participants whose primary role in the local food system is for-profit (i.e., producers, distributors, etc.) did not feel that networking and/or collaboration was beneficial enough to their businesses to justify the time spent attending meetings or events:
And so there can be time spent, it's kind of like opportunity costs because that... that set of players that's within that sort of world that is like [the] Eat Greater Des Moines world doesn't really give back much to a business that's all about commerce around a social enterprise that really is looking to try and create, you know, opportunities for people to make money. And so I don't go to very many of those meetings because of what I call opportunity cost. And I keep getting invited but, if they'd tell me what they talked about, that's good enough for me. However, participants whose primary role in the local food system is for-profit did report finding immense value in networking with potential customers via organizations perceived by the participants to have shared values, such as Practical Farmers of Iowa, the Chef s Collaborative, local Slow Food chapters, and more. Though participants reported these networks can provide an initial in, going above and beyond to build customer relationships is key to local foods systems enterprise success; many participants felt their customers were willing to pay more for local foods not simply because of the nature of the product itself, but because of the personal relationship and trust shared between producer and/or distributor and consumer. Overall, many participants also reported that area universities were critical to fostering enabling social relationships in local foods systems work. Relationships with institutions such as Drake University and Central College were identified to be of critical importance to local foods systems work because they embed communitybased local foods systems service work in credit-bearing courses, which provide valuable human capital to local foods systems efforts that would otherwise be lacking. In addition, participants reported that social capital could help make up for an overall lack of human, cultural, political, built, and/or natural resources. Many participants found partnering with unlikely allies yielded significant local foods systems successes. For example, one participant needed access to a commercial kitchen at a reasonable rate. Though considered by the participant to be an atypical local foods partnership, the participant partnered with a community homeless shelter that did not utilize their commercial kitchen during off-hours. Thus, through the partnership, the participant gained access to a commercial kitchen, while the homeless shelter secured additional operating funds. Human Capital Participants reported that human capital is critical to Des Moines local foods systems success. Participants did not report significant labor shortages or incompetency of available labor. Further, they overall reported that they and their
colleagues had access to the training, information, knowledge, and resources needed to maximize existing human capital. Participants oftentimes relied upon their social relationships to secure and develop additional human capital for their local foods systems work. For example, many participants found that by simply asking questions and admitting a need for human resources and/or information to local foods systems colleagues, they were able to rely on colleagues to point them to relevant resources, organizations, institutions, and/or people that could help. By leveraging social capital to accrue human capital, participants were able to secure a variety of resources from community garden volunteers, to pro-bono legal services, to business planning guidance. As one participant explained, it s easy to look like an expert when you re surrounded by them. Though participants reported great success leveraging social capital for human capital, some indicated that admitting a need for resources in the competitive Des Moines local foods scene could be challenging: You got to let your ego fall to the side to openly admit to a bunch of grown human beings that you don't know what you're doing but you're working on a project that you should know a lot more about/perceived, you know. So that's hard. Further, participants felt that having access to technical assistance from organizations and their staff such as the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture and Iowa State University Extension and Outreach is critical to training and preparing one s self, staff, and volunteers for local foods systems work. Though resources provided by the aforementioned organizations were critical to success, participants reported a need for more information and resources regarding business planning for nonprofits, web design, marketing campaigns, and communications. Though overall participants reported the availability of competent staff and volunteers, some participants working in organizations whose primary mission is not related to food systems and have not worked on food systems in the past felt that colleagues were not as willing or prepared to collaborate on local foods systems-related work: But I also think with there being such a brand new concept to [our organization], a lot of folks in general, refuse any notion other than what they ve always known for the last 150 years so it s new and different so it must be wrong. Many participants reported that colleges and universities were important sources of human capital for foods systems work, as they worked to embed community-based local foods systems service work in credit-bearing courses. The placement of
students as volunteers in organizations local foods systems work was identified to be of critical importance not because student volunteers alone are a sustainable solution to systems-based change, but because student volunteers could be plugged in to work that community partners had already coordinated as a part of systemsbased change: We operate with what [our staff] calls the holistic partnership model, where the beginning point is the expressed needs of the community partners, not us saying we want to bring in some kids to help you. And so it's very mutually beneficial and we have, I mean, so much of what we're able to do is based on [our staff s] cultivation and maintenance of excellent relations with these community partners Additionally, participants reported that consumers with an interest in health were critical champions of local foods systems efforts across the Des Moines community. However, many participants struggled engaging racially, socially, and/or economically diverse staff, volunteers, and their knowledges which was identified as a hindrance to more full participation in Des Moines local foods systems work: And then a lot of folks, people are coming from low resources that aren't going to have like the ability to really plan, like to skip a work day or to take a day off or something or to change their work schedule so I think that would be a definite thing. And then if it's like a single parent family, they're not going to pay for child care so that they can come volunteer in a garden, no way Cultural Capital Participants expressed that cultural contextual variables and fellow participants handling of cultural contextual variables has presented challenges to Des Moines local food systems work including race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Some participants did feel their food system work was enabled via the utilization of cultural capital, while others simply questioned the importance of working with diverse populations. Participants reported that engaging communities of Color in co-created local foods systems work is a challenge. Of those that felt working with communities of Color is important, many reported that they lacked information or tactics to build trusting, mutually beneficial relationships with communities of Color. Participants also reported feeling overall uncomfortable with a perceived lack of diversity in Des Moines local foods systems work:
A lot of times, I'm like sitting around a table of people that are like everyone's white and they're speaking like is this really representative of the community? And I've been to some meetings where it's like we need to really be thinking about is this us coming in, doing this work for them or are we joining in together with them to do something? And I think that's definitely something that needs to be thought about more Some participants reported that speaking Spanish or having reliable access to multilingual staff and/or volunteers is critical to starting meaningful conversations and relationships with Spanish-speaking communities. Participants did not feel that working with translators for special events, for example, was enough to build these meaningful relationships. Though engaging communities of Color in Des Moines local foods systems work was identified as a challenge, participants also reported that engaging lower socioeconomic status individuals, regardless of race, was a challenge. Many participants shared ah ha! moments that began to uncover some of the barriers to participation for lower socioeconomic status individuals these moments oftentimes helped inform participants decisions to consider barriers to participation in all future program planning. One participant, for example, shared that after when she introduced students to fresh broccoli in a school classroom, all of the kids were excited. She then asked students how they planned to ask their parents to buy fresh broccoli when they went grocery shopping, to which one student shared she could not ask her parents to buy broccoli: And one girl raised her hand and she says well, we've been living in a homeless shelter so we don't we just have to like eat whatever they have there, so we can't really go buy broccoli. And that just like hit me right there. And it's kind of defined the rest of my work. Though many participants reported challenges associated with engaging racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse communities, many participants looked to Lutheran Services of Iowa s Global Greens program as a good model to learn from. From offering English as a Second Language courses to farmers to providing infrastructure for farmers to market culturally appropriate food, participants expressed gratitude for the work of LSI and a desire to learn from LSI s successes. Political Capital Des Moines participants identified political contextual variables as a factor having significant enabling and hindering factors for local foods systems work.
Participants reported that the overall political climate had a significant impact on day-to-day foods systems work. Though national or Federal policy was not identified as a significant impactful determinant of local foods systems successes and failures, local and state support and/or lack of support was critically important. The importance of local and state political contextual variables extends beyond specific local and state policies, however. Participants reported that the overall feeling of political resistance from individuals, organizations, and entities perceived to have political power was a challenging aspect of Des Moines local foods systems work: There is always the perception that we're going against the grain in terms of our notions about food and agriculture compared to sort of the Iowa normal. And if you watch the Iowa legislature when it deliberates on anything involving agriculture policy, I wouldn't say they're friendly or helpful in this regard Some participants went on to explain that as a result of a perceived overarching state-level resistance to local foods systems work, the local level was the most impactful place to invest in political relationships, work on political or policy-related initiatives, and to wield political capital for local foods systems benefit. Local-level political work was identified as perhaps the most impactful for local foods systems work; however, participants reported several associated challenges. First, several participants felt that an us versus them mentality existed at their workplace, particularly among colleagues whose primary role is not related to food systems. For example, one participant reported that some colleagues who worked in the K-12 school kitchen didn t see the value of procuring local foods, and thus resented having to participate in efforts or campaigns involving local foods. In other cases, participants reported that colleagues were oftentimes overworked and lacked the time needed to build trusting relationships with local foods systems participants. One participant secured a grant for a community garden and organized all associated labor, program planning, etc. and was unable to garner the support of school teachers and principals the participant perceived this outcome to be due to a lack of trust: I think it's building that relationship of trust to start some of these projects on the part of people who are very busy and overworked like elementary teachers and principals, convince them that it's a good thing and we'll help you and you can do it. So the money is still sitting here. We still have it. Though participants reported challenges at the local level, many also described strategies for more effectively utilizing political capital at the local level. For example, one participant reported significantly improved political support at the
local level after involving and informing city government officials and planners about a local food system project from the beginning stages. Participants who kept local city officials informed of local foods systems projects from the beginning were then able to call upon officials for support in areas such as the favorable interpretation of local zoning regulations, the securing of utilities for urban farms on-site, funding opportunities, and more. Built Capital Built capital was identified as a factor in Des Moines local foods systems successes. Many participants, for example, found that utilizing existing and/or underutilized infrastructure contributed to local foods systems work significantly. For example, a participant working with a K-12 school was able to utilize a previously vacant greenhouse for use as a part of the school garden. Another participant was able to repurpose retired church vans for the distribution of food. Some participants reported that the aggregation and distribution of local foods is a challenge and one that is significantly hindering local foods systems advancement in Des Moines. For example, one participant reported that many growers with limited product from different parts of the state oftentimes make the same delivery route to Des Moines not only wasting the time and money of producers, but creating an unpredictable and piece-meal approach to the procurement of local foods for buyers. Several participants reported that Ellen Walsh-Rosmann s Farm Table Delivery service, however, is critical to filling an existing aggregation and distribution gap in the Des Moines local foods system. Water access was also identified as a problem in Des Moines local foods systems work particularly for those working with community gardens. Des Moines Water Works reportedly charges deposits and usage fees that are not accessible to those working on a not-for-profit basis. The lack of availability of public transportation was also reported to be a hindrance to Des Moines local foods systems work. Intentionally locating local foods systems events and programming in locations serviced by public transportation helps mitigate barriers to attendance. However, this was reported to only solve a portion of the transportation barrier, because participants reported that in some neighborhoods, the lack of sidewalks makes it unsafe to walk to bus stops. Financial Capital Participants have reported that financial capital and the local funding climate has been critical to Des Moines local foods systems success. Though the funding climate is generally considered to be supportive of local foods system work, the sheer number of organizations working on local foods systems-related projects results in
organizations competing for relatively limited resources including federal, state, and foundation dollars. Participants reported that local funders such as the Des Moines Area Religious Council, the United Way of Central Iowa, and other local churches, organizations, and hospitals have generously funded local foods systems work in Des Moines particularly when participants were able to couch their work in terms of the shared values of community health and food access. Participants reported even greater ease pitching ideas to local funders when youth are an integral part of proposed programming. In additional to monetary resources, participants were also able to secure valuable in-kind donations from organizations with shared values. Further, startup funds from the Marketing and Foods Systems Initiative at the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture helped many participants get their local foods systems projects off the ground. Participants working with more nontraditional programs and businesses such as meat processing, for example, had a more difficult time finding funding so finding a supportive local bank was critical to their success. Though participants most often identified local funding as an impactful component of Des Moines local foods systems work, many also reported that SNAP funding has been critical to local foods systems success. These participants reported significant concern that this funding was politically unreliable, however. Across the board, participants found it relatively difficult to find time to write (and look for) grants. Several participants found the expertise and assistance of Courtney Long of the Agriculture Urbanism Toolkit to be critical to their securing of grants. Natural Capital Some participants reported that unpredictable weather and climate change has presented a challenge to Des Moines local foods systems work. Presenting additional challenges, soil within Des Moines city limits was reported to require significant remediation due to contamination and lack of topsoil and nutrients. Overall, however, many participants did not report natural capital to be a significant enabling or hindering factor in their local foods systems work.