ORGANIC & REGENERATIVE ORGANIC in our COMMUNITY
Our support of regenerative organic agriculture starts right at home – in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, an epicenter of America’s farming country. Born and raised in this agricultural heart- land, we’re committed to being part of a model dedicated to the health of Iowa’s land, watersheds, and environment, and ultimately to a more responsible, regenerative food system.
Photo: Frontier Co-op Senior Sustainability Manager, Alicia Simmons, volunteers at Etzel Sugar Grove Farm.
INDIAN CREEK NATURE CENTER’S ETZEL SUGAR GROVE FARM In 2018, Frontier Co-op began a partnership with the Indian Creek Nature Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to support the transition of Etzel Sugar Grove Farm from a conventional row-crop system to an organic permaculture system. Since Frontier Co-op’s initial investment of $150,000 between 2018 and 2020, and more than 480 volunteer hours by Frontier Co-op employees working on the farm, the farm has transitioned 38 acres to organic production, is actively pasture raising 100 organic-certified chickens producing eggs, and has engaged more than 2,000 people in education programs on regenerative organic and sustainable practices. FRONTIER CO-OP ORGANIC PERMACULTURE FIELD Part of the transition from Etzel Sugar Grove Farm to organic involves the six- acre Frontier Co-op Organic Permaculture Field. Made up of a 500-tree orchard, annual and perennial vegetable, fruit, and herb plants, and protected green space, this piece of land is dedicated to increasing biodiversity and a critical part of the farm’s regenerative organic agriculture operations. From 2018 to 2020, the field transitioned to permaculture through the installation of an irrigation well and partial drip line system, the planting of prairie buffer strips, and the estab- lishment of Indian Creek Nature Center’s main apiary in the field. Since 2021, the field has been successfully producing organic crops that have been sold at wholesale cost to local businesses.
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