Unlikely Companies Drive Sustainable Economy

I met this week with Local Harvest Supply in Tipton, Iowa. They are a spinoff from regional food distributor Hawkeye Foods. Their recognition of the market for locally grown food was confirmed when one of their large corporate accounts, Riverside Casino, informed them that they wanted to buy as much local food as possible. It doesn't hurt that Riverside is near Kalona and there are lots of local food producers in the area. Local Harvest Supply has an appetite for 2 million pounds of fresh produce for month.

 Fast Company magazine reports Walmart plans to cut 20 million metric tons of greenhouse gas of emissions from supply chain. Walmart has over 100,000 suppliers with a combined footprint that is much larger than the company's operational carbon footprint alone. That's why Walmart is teaming up with the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), one of the organizations behind the company's Sustainability Index, to achieve the goal. 

In Fairfield, a 110-year old manufacturing business, Harper Brush Works, is leading the way to sustainability. Having researched and implemented several projects to help them reduce, reuse, and re-cycle, they have developed new eco-friendly products made of recycled materials, they have upgraded plant lighting to conserve energy and scrap wood has been converted into mulch and for firewood to the local community.

Iowa Lt. Governor Patty Judge will be in Fairfield on Tuesday, March 2 to learn about Fairfield's Go-Green Strategic Plan.