Editing Fairfield, Iowa (section)

== Economy ==
According to an article in ''[[The New York Times]]'', the city "thrives largely on its abundance of [[Startup company|start-up]] companies".<ref name="nytimes.com"/> Members of the community have established over 400 businesses in areas such as software, manufacturing, and trading.<ref name=atlantic/> The Agri-Industrial Products company was founded in 1978 and became one of the nation's largest manufacturers of construction warning barrels and other products made of plastic.<ref name="nytimes.com">[https://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/23/business/hot-spots-silicorn-valley-meditating-for-fun-and-profit.html] ''The New York Times'', Hot Spots, Silicorn Valley, Meditating for Fun and Profit, Andrew Bluth, September 23, 1998</ref> The city is also home to Creative Edge, a ceramic tile manufacturer.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20111008133000/http://www.heartlandconnection.com/news/story.aspx?id=483356] Heartland Connection, Ceramic tiles commemorate Iowa [[quilter]]s, Matt Burhman, July 15, 2010. Retrieved April 11, 2011</ref>

In 1990, [[Iowa Governor]] [[Terry Branstad]] called the city "one of the state's economic superstars".<ref>''Los Angeles Times'', Flying University Draws Meditating Entrepreneurs, April 8, 1990, [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-04-08-mn-1710-story.html]</ref> A 1997 report said the city had a significant number of entrepreneur businesses including a [[tofu]] company, several software firms, a chimney supplies wholesaler, [[wholefoods]] grocery store, an oil brokerage, and a telecommunications company.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.entrepreneur.com/magazine/entrepreneur/1997/october/14628-1.html|title=Entrepreneur, Oct 1997, Green Acres, Brian Steinberg|access-date=October 2, 2018}}</ref> These new companies were reported in 1999 to have "created up to 1,500 jobs in high tech businesses ranging from telecommunications companies to Internet providers to PC-oriented magazines".<ref name="Forbes">{{cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/asap/1999/0823/139.html|title=Resurgence of the Rural Life |website=Forbes|access-date=October 2, 2018}}</ref> Later, the city was dubbed "Silicorn Valley" because of the preponderance of new businesses that were Internet and information based, founded by practitioners of the Transcendental Meditation technique.<ref name="nytimes.com"/><ref name="Forbes"/>

In the 1990s, Fairfield had an average of $10&nbsp;million in new construction each year. Some of the construction was in the Maharishi Sthapatya Veda style of architecture<ref name="NPR"/><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/11/AR2008121103497.html|title=Bricks, mortar and serenity |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=December 12, 2008 |access-date=November 18, 2010 |first=Miranda S. |last=Spivack}}</ref> and included entrances that face either due east or due north,<ref name=Lee>{{cite news| url = https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A04E7DA1F31F934A25757C0A9679C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=printl| title = In Many Ways, a New Iowa Town Looks to East| author-link = Jennifer 8 Lee|first=Jennifer 8|last=Lee| work =[[The New York Times]]| date = April 17, 2001| access-date = June 25, 2007}}</ref> causing some businesses and homeowners to close their south and west facing entrances.<ref name=Kraus/> Eco friendly subdivisions that border Fairfield and also use the architectural principles of Maharishi Sthapatya Veda include Cypress Villages, a {{convert|145|acre|km2|adj=on}} development north of the city, and Abundance Ecovillage, an off-the-grid community of 14 homes built in three clusters<ref>"Harmonious Living With Nature" by Mindy Kralicek, Iowa Outdoors, March/April 2012 p 52.</ref> north of Fairfield. The first LEED Platinum home in the state of Iowa was built nearby in the Cypress Villages Subdivision. Cypress Villages applied to the state for incorporation as it could not be annexed into either Fairfield or Maharishi Vedic City. That request was denied until such time as more services could be offered by the community.<ref name=Dalbey>[http://iowaindependent.com/24858/fairfield-%E2%80%98blazing-a-trail%E2%80%99-for-other-iowa-cities-eyeing-sustainability Dalbey, Beth, "Fairfield blazing a trail for other Iowa cities eyeing sustainability", ''Iowa Independent'' (January 4, 2010)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713052551/http://iowaindependent.com/24858/fairfield-%E2%80%98blazing-a-trail%E2%80%99-for-other-iowa-cities-eyeing-sustainability |date=July 13, 2011 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.enn.com/business/spotlight/23347  Schaefer, Paul, "Going beyond LEEDs, beautifully, in Iowa", ''Environmental News Network'' (September 24, 2007)]</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.iowasource.com/home_garden/cypress_1007.html |title=Kingsbury, Sarah, "Iowa ecovisionary builds green city", ''Iowa Source'' (October 2007) |access-date=February 1, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101122170540/http://www.iowasource.com/home_garden/cypress_1007.html |archive-date=November 22, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>[http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19838750&BRD=1142&PAG=461&dept_id=567522&rfi=6 Jacobs, Lacey "Supervisors want Cypress Villages' request dismissed" ''Fairfield Daily Ledger'' (July 8, 2008)]{{dead link|date=July 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref name=Withdraw>[http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19846614&BRD=1142&PAG=461&dept_id=567522&rfi=6 Jacobs, Lacey, "Cypress Villages to withdraw city incorporation request" ''Fairfield Daily Ledger'' (July 11, 2008)]{{dead link|date=July 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>[http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20113989&BRD=1142&PAG=461&dept_id=567522&rfi=6 Jacobs, Lacey, "Annexing airport remains option for City Council", ''Fairfield Daily Ledger'' (September 9, 2008)]{{dead link|date=July 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>Jacobs, Lacey, "Cypress Villages now clear to seek incorporation," Fairfield Daily Ledger, July 30, 2009</ref> In addition, nearby [[Maharishi Vedic City]], located two miles (3&nbsp;km) north of Fairfield, began as a subdivision and [[Municipal corporation|incorporated]] as a city in 2001.<ref>[http://www.maharishivediccity-iowa.gov/council/resolutions/05.html Resolution No. 5 – "To Approve Agreement for Fire Protection between the City of Fairfield and the City of Vedic City"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111007032010/http://www.maharishivediccity-iowa.gov/council/resolutions/05.html |date=October 7, 2011 }} December 14, 2001, MVS web site</ref> The city sponsors an annual Eco-Fair and has more [[solar energy]] homes and green building than any other city in Iowa.<ref name="MEN1">{{cite web|url=http://www.motherearthnews.com/Nature-Community/2006-08-01/Great-Places-Fairfield-Iowa.aspx|title=12 Great Places: Fairfield, Iowa – MOTHER EARTH NEWS|access-date=2 October 2018}}</ref>

In 2003, a report by the National Center for Small Communities selected Fairfield as a recipient of The Grassroots Rural Entrepreneurship Award, saying that the city "has become recognized as one [of] the nation's most entrepreneurial small towns." The report said that Fairfield had created over 2,000 jobs in the previous 15 years and that new construction averages $10&nbsp;million per year.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.entreworks.net/Download/BestPractices.pdf|title=Grassroots Rural Entrepreneurship: Best Practices for Small Communities|access-date=October 2, 2018|archive-date=July 30, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160730181953/http://www.entreworks.net/Download/BestPractices.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> That same year, it received the Community Vitality Center's Entrepreneurial Community of the Year award.<ref name="Chojnowski">[https://web.archive.org/web/20110710220025/http://www.fairfieldiowaradio.com/explorefiles/IEDC_EDJ_Chojnowski.pdf] Economic Development Journal, Turning Fairfield, Iowa, into a Rural Renaissance City, Burt Chojnowski, Fall 2010</ref> According to City officials, Fairfield received investments of over $200&nbsp;million in venture capital from approximately 1990 to 2004.<ref>''The Washington Post'' Iowa Town Booms On Eastern Ways; Meditation, Business Draw Residents, by Kari Lydersen, Special to The Washington Post, August 9, 2004 [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50643-2004Aug8.html]</ref> A 2004 National Public Radio report said that over the past 20 years "TM proponents" had created thousands of jobs and more than 200 businesses.<ref name="NPR"/>

In 2008, the city was the "home of 40 [[software development]] and [[Telecommunications service provider|telecom]] companies"<ref name="WallStreetJournal">Wall Street Journal, In this Farm Town, Gurus Transcend Party, Chris Cooper, January 3, 2008, [https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB119932860523364137?mod=todays_us_nonsub_page_one]</ref> and according to a 2009 report from the University of Iowa's Community Vitality Center, Fairfield has had more than $250&nbsp;million invested across 50 different companies since 1990. These companies have included various financial services as well as those in marketing, software and telecom. This has created 3000 local jobs, plus "12,000 jobs globally, and nearly $1&nbsp;billion in new equity".<ref>[http://www.cvcia.org/content/communityentreprenurship/national.case.studies.series/8.fairfield.pdf] Community Vitality Center PDF, page 3, Fairfield, Iowa: The Emergence of a Serial Entrepreneurial Community, Burt Chojnowski</ref>

{{anchor|Fairfield Entrepreneurs Association}}In 2009, the Fairfield Entrepreneurs Association (FEA) celebrated its 20th year. In 2011, the FEA published the Fairifield Edge magazine that contains profiles of over 40 businesses and organizations and describes the entrepreneurial culture of Fairfield and "asset quilting" to support civic and social entrepreneurship. In 2003, the city began hosting National Rural Entrepreneurial Gatherings, which are now called the FRED Conference (Focus on Rural Entrepreneurial Development). An article in the IEDC Economic Development Journal described Fairfield as a Rural Renaissance City because of its entrepreneurial population.<ref name="Chojnowski"/>

A 2011 article in ''[[The Atlantic]]'' reported that newcomers to the town had founded more than 400 new businesses in the fields of marketing, computer programming and manufacturing, including 40 telecom and software companies. The city's largest employer was reported to be the national broker/dealer services firm called Cambridge Investment Research, with about 400 local employees.<ref name=atlantic>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/12/look-to-iowas-future-not-its-past-a-response-to-bloom/250117/|title=Look to Iowa's Future, Not Its Past: A Response to Bloom|date=December 19, 2011|magazine=The Atlantic}}</ref>