Iowa City is just one example of how our metro areas are paving over good land that could grow healthy food. Family businesses like small engine repair, 5 and Dime stores, smaller versions of Thiesen’s – these all disappeared as these houses were planted in their place.

These images were sent to us by Ayshe Yeager and show Iowa City’s growth 1984-2012. Imagine how many food Driscoll garden smallerfarms have been paved over in these photos.

Take a look. It’s pretty amazing.

Our cities will grow; we know that. Why not incorporate neighborhood-friendly farms into that growth, so that we can feed people wholesome food? According to this Iowa Department of Public Health report, if we transition just 123 acres per county of Iowa land to food production, we could meet the minimum USDA daily allowance of vitamins and minerals for every man, woman and child in Iowa. (Apologies for the messy PDF, for some reason the report has disappeared from the IDPH site.)