Producers hope to grow on grocers

Council Bluffs area fruit and vegetable growers and representatives of metro area supermarkets met this week to talk about how they can bring more local items to shopping aisles and other venues.

The Pottawattamie Local Food Council sponsored the field day at Ditmars Orchard. The event also covered food safety.

The local foods movement has grown nationwide over the last few years, fueled in part by concerns about food safety and the economic and nutritional impact of mass-produced or processed foods often shipped long distances.

Availability of local foods has expanded beyond farmers markets and into schools, supermarkets, restaurants and hospitals.

The Pottawattamie County Board of Supervisors formed the volunteer Local Food Council last fall to promote local foods and enhance the region’s economy.

Bahia Mar helped organize Monday’s event. She works with the Golden Hills Resource Conservation and Development Center in Oakland, Iowa, as well as the Pottawattamie group and the Southwest Iowa Food and Farm Initiative.

Lyle Ditmars, co-owner with his wife, Debbie, of Ditmars Orchard, said his business, at 19475 225th St., planted its first trees in 1994. Now it has 4,000 apple, cherry, peach, plum and apricot trees, pumpkins, tomatoes, squash, potatoes and other vegetables.

Ditmars’ apples and cider are sold in local grocery stores including Hy-Vee, he said.

“People want to know where their food comes from,” said Ditmars, a member of the county’s Food Council. “You can come here and see the whole process.”

Representatives from Hy-Vee, Whole Foods Market and Ameristar Casino were among the groups attending the field day.

Sam Beattie, food safety extension specialist at the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at Iowa State University, spoke about post-harvest food safety.

Contact the writer:

444-1117, joe.ruff@owh.com