Iowans are celebrating home-grown food after the first weekend in September launched farm tour season.
According to a report by Radio Iowa, dozens of agricultural producers are allowing the public to come in and take an up-close look at their operations. A series of farm tours have been scheduled.
Jessica Burtt Fogarty, a spokeswoman for the Regional Food Systems Working Group of Iowa said people can come to these farms, whether they are urban or rural and see what all happens there.
“Farmers, generally, try to tell their story about what brought them to the farm and the joys of growing good food,” said Burtt Fogarty.
Farm tours may cover a wide range of produce, according to the report. Products like apples, kale, squash, goat cheese, honey, or watermelon could all make an appearance in Iowa.
“There’s great variety in Iowa on all the different farms,” said Burtt Fogarty. “Sometimes it’s a dairy that also produces ice cream, a lot of value-added activities are happening on the farm. Orchards are really popular for agri-tourism and farm tours.”
She said pumpkin patches and corn mazes may also be an option.
Here are some of the scheduled farm tours –
Sunday, September 15 –
- Farm to Fork Culinary Tour in northwest Iowa hosted by Flavors of Northwest Iowa.
- Fresh on the Farm events in north central Iowa hosted by Healthy Harvest of North Iowa
Saturday, September 21 –
- Driftless Tri-State Farm Crawl in eastern Iowa hosted by Dubuque Eats Well
Sunday, September 22 –
- Fresh on the Farm events in north central Iowa hosted by Healthy Harvest of North Iowa
- Taste of Northeast Iowa Farm Crawl hosted by the Northeast Iowa Food & Farm Coalition
Saturday, September 28 –
- Field to Family Festival Culinary Walk and Harvest Dinner in eastern Iowa hosted by the Field to Family Regional Community Food Coalition
Sunday, October 6 –
- Farm Crawl in north-central Iowa, sponsored by Practical Farmers of Iowa
Friday, October 18 –
Harvest Moon Celebration hosted by the Quad Cities Food Hub
