Iowa is a national leader in agriculture, working to connect with other states to grow agriculture in the United States; this is where the Iowa Local Food Conference comes in.

“This conference is about expanding conversation about sustaining agriculture,” said John O’Sullivan, professor at North Carolina State University and keynote speaker at this event.

The conference lasts two days, March 19 and March 20, including national speakers sharing their experience and expertise.

Attendees will be getting information that will help them start new projects and take projects to the next step to help improve and expand agriculture.

“The conference is open to anyone who is interested in food — consumers, producers, grocers, restaurateurs and people in businesses,” said Lynn Heuss, assistant coordinator for the conference.

This conference is also about making connections between states. “I will be talking about developing local foods in North Carolina,” O’Sullivan said.

O’Sullivan also said that North Carolina is trying to start up a 10 percent campaign, encouraging North Carolina to buy 10 percent local food.

“North Carolina spends $36 billion in food. If we can get 10 percent of that back into local farmers, that would make a big impact on North Carolina agriculture,” O’Sullivan said.

This conference is trying to help people understand what’s going on in the agricultural industry right now and what the industry will look like in the future.

“We do not put a cap on the number of people who can attend,” Heuss said. “You can show up as a walk-in on the day the conference begins.”