Food

Being a conscious consumer can help one watch the waist and waste. The University of Iowa community strives to be good stewards - locally and globally. This means being aware of the environmental, economic and social implications surrounding our food choices and daily decision making.

Residential Dining - University Housing

Residential Dining believes in supporting local farmers and purchases their products as much as possible. Each Market Place provides wholesome, healthy and tasty selected locally grown food options to our students through the It's Only Natural program. In addition to serving a wide-variety of foods for those with differing dietary concerns, Residential Dining is continually exploring the availability of locally grown, seasonal and sustainable foods. Learn more...

Iowa Memorial Union Dining

The Iowa Memorial Union dining services has made a special commitment to including local foods in dining and catering. In addition to including produce from the UIEC Student Garden in IMU menu offerings, the amount of local foods-within about a 500 mile radius-purchased for catering and dining has increased to around 52%, based on dollars spent.

Other IMU dining service sustainable actions of note:

• Features Fair Trade coffee exclusively.
• Converted to biodegradable take out containers and utensils.
• Catering service donates any leftover food to Table to Table, a local food recovery organization.

UIEC Student Garden

Formed in the Spring of 2009, the University of Iowa Environmental Coalition Student Garden has been producing a variety of spring and summer produce that the students provided to the food service for inclusion in meals served to University  students, faculty and staff at the Iowa Memorial Union. 

The UIEC maintain a commercial-size operation on the 1/3rd acre plot on the Hawkeye Campus. The greenhouse was installed in April 2009 and was planted with a variety of tomatoes. Compost from pre-consumer food waste was applied to the garden to prepare and fertilize the soil, creating a full circle of on-campus, locally grown produce using organic methods of gardening. Learn more...

Local Food

The University of Iowa is fortunate to be in a community that has active local foods supporters.

Johnson County Local Food Alliance, an association of farmers, consumers, professional food buyers and support organizations fostering a more local and sustainable agriculture in Johnson and surrounding counties. Learn more...

Practical Farmers of Iowa, a non-profit, educational organization that began in 1985 and now has more than 2,300 individual members in Iowa and neighboring states. Its mission is to research, develop and promote profitable, ecologically sound and community-enhancing approaches to agriculture. Learn more...

Local Foods connection, a group in the east central Iowa who donate fresh local produce to low-income families. To learn more...

Local Harvest, an online resource to find farmers markets, family farms, and other sources of sustainably grown food near you. Learn more...

Iowa City Farmers Market, May 1 through Oct. 30, 2010. Learn more...