One thing that universally unites us is our need to eat every day. We might also agree on a few preferences when it comes to food—namely, wanting healthy, delicious, budget-friendly edibles, grown using practices that consider long-term environmental impacts.
Enter Nick Campney, a family man committed to bringing sustainable, affordable, and healthy food production to Southeast Iowa. With his long-term, big picture vision, Nick aims to build a vibrant agricultural community for the benefit of all through his farm, Mundo Lindo, located at the corner of B Street and 185th Street in Fairfield. In mid-June, he’ll open the Mundo Lindo U-Pick Farm, offering vegetables, fruit, herbs, and flowers.
The philosophy of Mundo Lindo (translation: “beautiful world”) focuses on increasing farm profitability through growing specialty crops and cultivating soil health. Nick credits Francis Thicke, the now-retired owner of Radiance Dairy, as a mentor and a prime example of mindful land stewardship. At Mundo Lindo, Nick uses a four-year crop rotation system that includes a year of rest for the land to maintain soil health and prevent erosion. The farm hosts an orchard, pasture, and fields designated for specific crops such as garlic, winter squash, beans, and diverse vegetables.
Sixteen years ago, Nick’s project began on a little over four acres, transforming overgrown fields into a perennial paradise with fruit trees, a pond, a passive-solar house, free-range livestock, and a wide variety of edible crops. Now he is transitioning 60 acres of row crops into his long-held dream of diverse, holistic food production.
For Nick, moving from a small-scale homestead to full-scale production for community consumption has necessitated significant recalibration of his daily operations, including investing in equipment and infrastructure.
Nick feels his community-based approach is essential, and it’s part of the reason he was awarded a Resilient Food System Infrastructure grant from the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. He has used that grant to acquire equipment for increased specialty crop production, including a forklift, an automated produce washing system, drying and ventilation equipment, and temperature-controlled storage containers.
He also has a Farm Store project in the works that will convert a 5,000-bushel grain bin into a community farm store, for which he was awarded a grant from Choose Iowa in April. The renovated space, scheduled to open in the fall, will give local growers and producers a retail-like space to sell their goods.
But Mundo Lindo is much more than Nick’s own private farm. He is committed to developing a working system that will enable other local farmers to collaborate for mutual success through ongoing education for best practices, grant opportunities, and the aggregation of productions for direct sale to local and regional communities. Nick sits with ten others on the steering committee of the Southeast Iowa Food and Farmers Group, which hosts monthly meetings that bring growers and food producers together to discuss everything from crops and soil to markets and regulations.
Nick has brought Mundo Lindo Farms a long way in recent years. By problem solving on a grander scale and fostering a genuine willingness to share wisdom and economic growth with fellow farmers, he has set the stage for more locally grown food that’s both affordable for consumers and profitable for small growers.
Mundo Lindo U-Pick Farm opens in mid-June, offering seasonal vegetables, a variety of herbs, and a selection of flowers.
Growers who would like to be a part of the Farm Store Project opening this fall are invited to contact Nick at MLfarmsIA@gmail.com.
If you are interested in joining the Southeast Iowa Food and Farmers Group, email seiowafoodproducers@gmail.com.