Bonnie Riggan operated Calico Farm in Iowa City for over seven years. It’s was an effort that Riggan ran largely by herself (well, and with her two goats, Diego and Clyde). UPDATE: Calico Farm is no longer operating. This post was written in 2021.
Calico Farm is located near Hickory Hill Park in Iowa City. It’s a bit smaller than the average independent organic farm – just one-third of an acre of the land is used for food production. But don’t be fooled by its small stature, Calico produces plenty of salad greens, tomatoes, beans, squash, leeks, and more, each week.
All of that produce is available at Riggan’s farm stand: she sells her veggies market-style every Saturday on-site at Calico Farm, embracing the small-scale approach to farm-to-table vendorship. Calico’s produce is also available to purchase through the Field to Family Online Farmers Market.
For Riggan, the lifestyle has its advantages as well as its challenges.
“Scale is always a challenge,” Riggan says. “I prefer to work by myself and therefore it’s just really hard to get enough work done and to produce enough food to make it financially sustainable.”
But despite her unique operation, Riggan faces the same small-business question that local organic farmers of all sizes have been pondering: what makes sense from an economical perspective?
“We work awfully hard for the very little financial reward that we get,” Riggan says. “There are lots of other rewards – building community, feeding our communities – but at some point, the physical labor and the financial risks that we take is something that I always question. What’s feasible and what’s actually logical?”
Riggan says it’s a difficult job, but her passion for growing organic produce overrides the logistic roadblocks as Calico nears the end of its seventh season of production.
In addition to being a full-time farmer, Riggan plays another vital role in local sustainable agriculture: serving as a commissioner for the Johnson County Soil and Water Conservation District. As commissioner, Riggan works to get state and federal conservation funding for local farmers.
“If people want to do things that help conserve water or improve water quality on their property,” Riggan says, “There’s lots of programs for those sorts of things and we help them get connected to those resources.”
Whether it’s through growing organic produce or advocating for clean water, Riggan’s passion for sustainability measures much larger than 1/3rd of an acre.