first on decorahnews.com: New Extension employee will work on local food distribution in NE Iowa

Nick Mc Cann's new title with Iowa State University Extension is "Food System Value Chain Coordinator."  What that fancy title means on a practical basis is that Mc Cann--who is headquartered at the Winneshiek County Extension Office in Decorah--will help develop larger markets for locally grown food in NE Iowa.

Mc Cann tells decorahnews.com that whether it's locally raised meat or locally-produced dairy, fruit or vegetables, he's trying to make locally grown agricultural products easier to buy by institutions, businesses and others interested in purchasing local food.

A key part of that process will be to work with many other groups to set up distribution networks.  Mc Cann tells decorahnews.com that many food buyers don't want to deal with dozens of local growers--that they prefer to get the food they need from one source. The current lack of such distribution outlets is a "bottleneck" in the buying process, says Mc Cann.

He expects to get a lot of help with such work. "There's a lot of people,,,already at the table talking about this," he says. Mc Cann says he'll try to come up with solutions that will allow everyone to get their needs filled--something he notes that is easy to say, but harder to do.