Iris Midler

Founder and Owner of Chefs for Farmers Food & Wine Festival

Iris Midler is the founder and owner of Chefs for Farmers, Dallas’ premier food and wine festival connecting farmers, chefs and culinary enthusiasts.

Launched in 2010 as an intimate, one-time dinner for 125 guests, Chefs For Farmers has grown into a Texas-sized fall festival welcoming more than 14,000 food lovers across Dallas and Houston, while highlighting more than 25 Texas farmers and 139 leading chefs. 

Over the past 16 years, Midler has built Chefs For Farmers into a platform that champions “the small guy,” from independent farmers and chefs to spirits and wine purveyors, while fostering a stronger local culinary community. Chefs For Farmers provides stipends that help chefs source ingredients from regional farms, while creating opportunities to showcase the people, heritage, and craftsmanship behind their food.

The festival's impact extends beyond the plate, giving back annually through charitable partners, including The Seed Project Foundation, a donation farm combating food insecurity in Collin County through sustainable agriculture and education. 

Today, Midler’s mission continues to expand with Chef For Farmer’s inaugural Community Impact Awards, which highlights culinary leaders making a difference through a charity dinner benefiting Café Momentum. The new Chefs For Farmers scholarship foundation provides scholarships for students pursuing higher education in agriculture, cultivating the next generation of culinary and agriculture trailblazers in Texas and beyond.