Started in 2015, Grow: Johnson County farm located on the Johnson County Historic Poor Farm in Iowa City. We train growers through hands-on farming experiences for all ages and backgrounds. All the produce grown on the farm is distributed to 16 local food pantries throughout Johnson County, Iowa. Since the program began, Grow annually provides over 40,000 pounds to our partners and has donated over 240,000 pounds of fresh produce.

The New Century Farm Fellowship program will launch in October 2025.

New Century Farm Fellows will receive a comprehensive, hands-on farming education and will gain essential skills, land and market access, capital resources, and community support needed to build a thriving farm business. Five beginning farmers will be hired as paid, full-time Iowa Valley RC&D staff and receive comprehensive employee benefits throughout their two-year fellowship. 

Clean Start is a food safety coaching opportunity made possible through a USDA Food Safety Outreach Program grant. The program goal is to improve on-farm knowledge and capacity of beginning farmers to implement food safety best practices on their farm.

The Fresh Connect Business Coaching Program is designed for small-to mid-scale farmers in Eastern Iowa who have been in business for between one and six years and plan to continue farming.

Farmers Toolshed is an equipment sharing program for farmers. Farmers Toolshed will offer local farmers access to more efficient and specialized equipment at a lower cost.

The Farmers Market Manager Toolkit is a series of vendor handouts, the Iowa Farmers Market Manager Handbook, and the Lettuce Grow Online Training series. This Toolkit is meant to complement the existing booklet published by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and resources provided by the Iowa Farmers Market Association. It was created in partnership withNortheast Iowa RC&D with support from Iowa’s market managers and vendors.

Intensive tillage undermines soil health and erosion control, yet it is commonly used on most organic vegetable farms to manage weeds.

Beginning in 2023, we are conducting a no till vegetable trial on 1 acre of land at the Grow: Johnson County farm. Click here to learn more about this trial as it progresses and how farmers can get a cost share to trial no-till on their own farms.

Farm Tabs is a software developed by the Iowa Valley RC&D team to enable small and mid-sized farmers to manage records to meet GAP audit and other food safety requirements. FarmTabs is free software developed by experts in the area of food safety, agricultural supply chains, process improvement and software development. FarmTabs is publicly available under a Creative Commons License.

Farm Tabs is getting a maintenance update and customer support is not currently available.