Local food still hot in Iowa City.

By Cindy Garcia
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Locavorism, or the tendency to consume local food, has been taking hold of the United States.

That trend is what Ion Bogdan Vasi — a University of Iowa sociology associate professor — and his fellow coauthors have found in an ongoing study about local food movements.

According to data on the USDA National Farmers’ Markets list, there were 3,706 farmers’ markets around the country in 2004 and 8,268 in 2014.

Vasi said this growth is surprising after predictions in the 1970s that local food markets would decline.

“That was the central puzzle that we were trying to address: Why do we see this growth? And like I said, it’s not just farmers’ markets, it’s also community-supported agriculture, food hubs, and local food restaurants,” he said.

Vasi said future growth of local food markets is hard to predict, but their presence has influenced supermarkets to include local food in their inventories.

“The industry realizes that this has moved from being a pretty small niche to being a pretty significant part of the whole food system,” Vasi said.

Iowa City was among the four cities in Iowa analyzed in the study, which used both qualitative and quantitative methods to find its evidence.

The Iowa City Farmers’ Market, established in 1972, started with around 13 vendors; it now has up to 130 vendors.

“We’ve really grown consistently every year,” said Cassidy Bell, the director of the Iowa City Farmers’ Market.

Bell said the Farmers Market can expect to see around 500 to 1,000 people on Wednesdays and between 6,000 to 8,000 on Saturdays.

“People in this community seek out healthy food, and they seek out these connections that they can build,” she said. “When you shop at a farmers’ market, you’re not only buying the produce, but you’re also building a relationship with the grower.”

Cindy Cary of Sweet Treats & Heirloom Veggie’s has been a vendor at the Iowa City Farmers’ Market for seven to eight years. She said she chooses to sell here because the short distance from where she lives in Solon.

Additionally, she said, “it’s one the best markets in Iowa.”

“I think the market is a well-oiled machine. It works really well,” Bell said. “People come from all over. We’re busy every week, and the vendors are happy, I’m happy, and I think the customers are happy.”