Farmer Development
The Farmer Development Initiative provides education and technical support to beginning and experienced farmers in Iowa with the goal of increasing farm business viability and resilience. This initiative supports 75 farmers per year through on-farm demonstration, paid apprenticeships, fellowship programs, land and equipment access, and workshops.
Many of our Farmer Development programs are based at the Johnson County Historic Poor Farm, click below to learn more.
Started in 2015, Grow:Johnson County is a six acre vegetable farm located on the Johnson County Historic Poor Farm in Iowa City, Iowa. 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 200,000 pounds of fresh produce.
Intensive tillage undermines soil health and erosion control, yet it is commonly used on most organic vegetable farms to manage weeds. Sustainable farming and conservation is important at Grow: Johnson County.
Beginning in 2023, we are conducting a no-till vegetable trial on 1 acre of land at the Johnson County Historic Poor Farm. Click below to learn more about this trial progresses and how farmers can get a cost share to trial no-till on their own farms.
Clean Start is a free 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 New Century Farm Fellowship (NCFF) program will launch in October 2025. Five beginning farmers will be hired as paid, full-time IVRCD staff and receive comprehensive employee benefits throughout their two-year fellowship.
Choose Local is a marketing campaign that connects Iowa consumers with Iowa farmers and producers, and empowers Iowans to choose local food.
The Choose Local campaign includes seven short videos (3-5 minutes) that focus on the most common methods of accessing local food and specialty crops in Iowa.
The Farmers Market Manager Toolkit 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.
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
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.
FarmTabs 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.
