Cumming, Ia. — Steve Bruere asks if he should dress like a farmer or a developer when he meets up with a photographer.

The 38-year-old is joking. He rarely strays far from an unremarkable suit and cowboy boots that take him from farmland auctions to corporate offices.

But the question is appropriate: Bruere and his partners want to build what amounts to a small town on about 400 acres near Cumming, with an organic vegetable farm, vineyard, orchard and residential gardens anchoring the massive home, condo, apartment and retail development.

If the Cumming City Council green-lights the roughly $260 million project next month, the Middlebrook development would be Iowa's first "agrihood," a planned community anchored by a working farm or community gardens.

Read the full article on the Des Moines Register website.