“I like that we're supporting the next generation of farmers who are farming in a way that my great grandparents farmed.”
This episode is our last in the series. We bring it all together by highlighting both a pizza farm, Luna Valley Farm, and an academic’s discussion of agrotourism.
In this episode, host Sarah Davis speaks with Dr. Brian Rumsey and Maren Beard, of Luna Valley Farm, about their insights on pizza farms. During their conversations, they discussed sustainability, agrotourism, farming, the economics of pizza farming and the community development aspect that can come from opening up farms to tourism.
About Dr. Brian Rumsey
Dr Brian Rumsey is environmental sustainability administrator at Wartburg College. He was born and raised in Iowa City. After stops in New Hampshire, Mississippi, and Kansas, he returned to Iowa in 2016. He lives in Cedar Falls with his wife and two daughters and teaches courses on history and sustainability at the University of Northern Iowa and Wartburg College. He is passionate about producing and preparing good food sustainably. When he's not working on his classes, you're likely to find him out in the garden with his family in the warmer months, or running the wood-fired oven at Basal Pizza in Waterloo on Friday evenings.
About Maren Beard
After a youth spent in rural Wisconsin, Maren Beard attended Luther College in Decorah where she studied Environmental Studies and Spanish. She fell in love with the area and went on to earn a Masters of Science in Sustainable Food Systems and joined the team at Luther College as the Assistant Director for the Center for Sustainable Communities where she worked for ten years on issues related to campus sustainability. These days Maren works full time on the farm!
Maren spends a lot of time in the kitchen during the week, making dough, rolling dough balls and preparing pizza ingredients using our wood-fired oven. You’ll usually spot her behind the bar greeting customers on pizza nights.
Mentioned in this episode
Dave and Anna Geyer (See previous episode or LandAllianceFolk.com)
Pizza Farms and Community in Iowa