Rich Pirog

Rich Pirog joined the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University in 1990. He is the Program Leader for the Center's Marketing and Food Systems Initiative, and became associate director in February 2007.  Pirog directs the Value Chain Partnerships (VCP) project, a multi-organizational effort that provides technical assistance to farmer and community-led food businesses in Iowa through a set of working groups.  Through VCP, Pirog leads the Regional Food Systems Working Group, which focuses on making the case for investment in local and regional food businesses and networks.  Pirog is also the leader of the Good Food Network of the Upper Midwest, a six-state network funded in part by the Wallace Center for Sustainable Agriculture.

 
Pirog's research and collaborations on food miles, food value chains, local and place-based foods, and ecolabels has been publicized in magazines and media outlets across the globe, used by local food practitioners, and is often cited in books, college courses, other publications.