A Letter From Tommy Hexter, IFSC’s New Interim Director
Dear Iowa Food System Coalition community,
I’m writing today with a lot of gratitude, a full heart, and a clear vision for our work together in the coming months and years. It is a huge honor to be named Interim Director of the Iowa Food System Coalition. IFSC has deep roots in decades of local food and farm organizing across our state. Many of you have been building this movement longer than I’ve been alive, and I feel both humbled and energized to step into this role alongside you.
I also want to introduce myself in a way that’s honest about where I come from and why this work matters so much to me. I’m a 26-year-old transplant who has been in Iowa for eight years now, and in that time Iowa has become home in every sense of the word. Running a food hub in Grinnell, working with Iowa Farmers Union, and finding a family among the people who show up day after day to build a healthier, more resilient food and farm system for all Iowans - this is the reason I’m here. I found the place I belong in the world through this movement, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to help lead it.
This work is building the future. There is so much leadership opportunity for young people in food system work, and I’m inspired by the growing number of emerging leaders across Iowa who are bringing creativity, courage, and a fierce commitment to justice into this field. If you’re a young person reading this, I want you to know: I am so excited you’re here. We need you here.
On December 5th, many of us gathered for the 3rd Annual Iowa Local Food Summit and the 110th Annual Iowa Farmers Union Convention. That gathering captured what I believe is the heart of IFSC: bringing together people who don’t always get to sit in the same room, to work on an issue that all of us share responsibility for shaping. State agencies rarely get to work shoulder-to-shoulder with other agencies. Legislators rarely have the time and space to collaborate outside their chambers or caucuses. And food system advocates - the 50+ organizations representing farmers, food hubs, schools, food banks, grocers, health professionals, entrepreneurs, and community organizations - often carry out their work in parallel lanes.
When we gather these three lanes together, something powerful happens. We create the conditions for real coalition work: state agencies, state lawmakers, and food system advocates showing up to share insights, align strategies, and move forward with a shared purpose. That is the value of IFSC - and it’s also the responsibility we hold. Organizing a coalition is how we change the way our food system works in Iowa.
As I step into this role, I keep coming back to three primary goals that I believe unite our work:
Help develop the next generation of farmers by getting them on land with adequate capital and support.
Create new markets for agricultural producers at a time when ag markets are as shaky as ever. Iowa farmers are constantly getting the short end of the commodity system, and we need alternatives that let farmers be free to farm what they want.
Feed Iowans the healthiest food in the world. We have some of the best soil in the world, and from the best soil comes the best food. Building a stronger local food economy supports the nutrition of our kids and communities—and it connects directly to urgent health challenges like Iowa’s rising cancer rates.
Those goals are big, but they’re not abstract. We’re already moving toward them together, and IFSC’s “North Star” keeps us oriented: we aim to have Iowa produce more of the food that it consumes.
You all know this, but it’s worth putting into words: this North Star is not a slogan. It’s a measurable, practical vision that’s been shaped by years of listening, analysis, and collaboration. Over more than three years, IFSC and its partners interviewed hundreds of food system stakeholders to develop the Iowa Food System Plan - a statewide roadmap spanning nine priority areas: Land & Resource Access; Farm & Food Business Development; Infrastructure; Nutrition; Local Food Procurement; Labor Equity; Environmental Stewardship; Communications; and Policy Development.
When people say, “States are the laboratories for democracy,” I think about what’s happening in those priority teams. Across Iowa, our member organizations are running experiments - social, economic, environmental, and public health experiments - in real time. And these experiments are working. You can see them in Choose Iowa, in the Food Hub Managers Working Group, in farm-to-school initiatives, in Double Up Food Bucks sites, in land access navigation and beginning farmer mentorship programs, in rural grocery revitalization, in butchery innovation. All of these projects are changing lives.
During my three-month starting term as Interim Director, my goal is to keep that momentum moving into 2026 in a way that’s practical, grounded, and useful to members. That means following up from the Policy Summit with clear legislator talking points and sustained engagement on our policy priorities through the legislative session; continuing to build the Choose Iowa Program and making sure schools are added back in. I am committed to helping agencies, lawmakers, institutions, and consumers understand not just why local food matters, but how to make it work. You’ll see us keep our partners connected into the legislative session, offer advocacy training in February, and deepen partnerships. Internally, I want IFSC to run smoothly and transparently: priority teams meeting on a firm schedule with agendas and consistent note-taking to be shared across the entire coalition, amplifying our top-notch communications communications including our podcast and social media, clear fundraising and budget planning, and a thoughtful hiring process for our next permanent director. Finally, I’m committed to expanding and strengthening our steering committee with more farmers and direct partners, and to making sure staff and teams have the basic infrastructure they need to succeed - right down to dedicated work phone numbers for IFSC folks.
As Interim Director, my commitment is to support and strengthen the connective tissue of this coalition: to keep listening, keep convening, keep learning from what’s working (and what isn’t), and keep moving our shared plan forward. I see this role, in the words of Jan Libbey (the original convener of this coalition) as being a weaver - weaving together the work of so many individuals and organizations into one coherent, powerful, focused engine for change.
Thank you for trusting me with this work. Thank you for the decades of leadership that brought IFSC to where it is today. And thank you for the energy, imagination, and determination you bring to building what comes next.
I’m honored to be in this with you. Let’s keep growing a stronger food system in Iowa.
With gratitude and solidarity,
Tommy Hexter
Interim Director
Iowa Food System Coalition
