If you are a local business or organization that deals with food, Cass County ISU Extension wants to know: what you do with the “extras”? Kate Olsen, Extension Program Coordinator, says they are working with a team of local partners to explore options for reducing food waste in Cass County. Identifying existing food waste and food recovery efforts going on in Cass County is one of their priorities. The team would like to learn about existing programs, businesses, and organizations that assist in food recovery and waste management throughout the county. They would also like to find organizations that might be interested in participating in programs like this if they were developed. Kate says they are asking local businesses and organizations you to take a brief survey to help the team understand the current situation in Cass County.

They would like to have the surveys returned by June 11^th. Here’s the survey link: https://iastate.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_aW5Ko3FTNApWiKp

Kate says they “Hope to lay the ground work for future activities and resources that can assist in getting food to its highest purpose- helping where it is needed most and decreasing the amount of food that is wasted every day. If you would like more information on this project, or would like to be involved in our project team, please call or email Kate Olson at the Cass County Extension Office- 712-243-1132 or keolson@iastate.edu.

(You can listen to an interview with Kate Olsen on the “Heartbeat Today” podcast found under the “Podcast” tab on the kjan.com home page)