Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig Tuesday announced that the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship has awarded 28 Choose Iowa cost-share grants to Iowa farmers, small businesses and non-profits totaling $463,000. The announcement was made during an event at Jasper Winery, one of the grant awardees.
These Choose Iowa cost-share grants were created to assist Iowa farmers, businesses and non-profits with their efforts to increase or diversify their agricultural product offerings, expand markets and shorten the supply chain.
"Choose Iowa is about connecting consumers to the great products that Iowans are growing, raising and processing in communities of all sizes across our state," said Secretary Naig. "As Choose Iowa builds into an easily recognizable brand that can be used by farmers, producers, processors, farmers markets, food retailers and many others in the supply chain, these cost-share grants will help build capacity to meet the growing consumer demand for Iowa products."
The grants will support a wide variety of projects, including cider production from Iowa grown apples, fruit and vegetable processing, cold storage for meat, expanded processing of dairy products, hydroponic lettuce and microgreens, Iowa grown flowers, beer production from Iowa honey and many more.
These cost-share dollars leverage additional private investment. The highly competitive grant application process has yielded grant requests totaling nearly $3.3 million during the first two years of the program, a number far exceeding available funding.
Choose Iowa grant allocations that were awarded Tuesday, include the following:
That Iowa Girl | Panora | $25,000 - Increase warehouse capacity to expand markets for more small Iowa producers. | Total project budget: $65,701.50
Van Manen Sweet Corn & Fresh Produce | Kellogg | $25,000 - Construct a processing facility with customer pick-up location and storage. | Total project budget: $65,441
The Lavender Farm at Sutliff, LLC | Lisbon | $6,000 - Expand lavender processing capacity and offer value-added products. | Total project budget: $12,000
Echollective Farm | Mechanicsville | $16,000 - Expand cold storage and add fruit and vegetable processing. | Total project budget: $38,287.34
Farm Story Meats | Ames | $25,000 - Increase cold storage capacity for direct-to-consumer meat sales. | Total project budget: $55,374.32
Walker Homestead Farm & Winery, Inc. | Iowa City | $25,000 - Increase wine production capacity utilizing Iowa grown grapes. | Total project budget: $78,879
Jasper Winery | Des Moines | $25,000 - Add cider production capacity using Iowa grown apples. | Total project budget: $65,000
Field to Family | Iowa City | $25,000 - Purchase a refrigerated truck to expand food hub operations and local food distribution. | Total project budget: $63,000
Over the Moon Farm & Flowers, LLC. | Coggon | $10,000 - Establish and increase storage and distribution space for Iowa pasture-raised Pekin duck meat. | Total project budget: $20,676
Kittleson Brothers | St. Ansgar | $14,000 - Expand cold storage and improve potato sizing and processing. | Total project budget: $28,000
Meat & Greet, LLC | Comanche | $25,000 - Enable direct-to-consumer meat sales. | Total project budget: $74,900
Organic Greens, LLC | Kalona | $25,000 - Enhance fruit and vegetable processing and expand cold storage capacity. | Total project budget: $57,894
Pleasant Grove Homestead | Montezuma | $25,000 - Build cold storage and processing space for direct-to-consumer sales of pastured poultry, pork and honey. | Total project budget: $295,000
Urban Greens | Iowa City | $12,045 - Improve processing and packaging equipment and cold storage capacity. | Total project budget: $24,090.58
Brewer Family Farms, LLC | Dallas Center | $14,960 - Add value-added meats for schools through the Farm to School program. | Total project budget: $29,920
Brightside Aleworks | Altoona | $18,000 - Add gluten-free brewing capacity utilizing Iowa honey. | Total project budget: $41,149.82
Noble Provisions, LLC | Griswold | $2,110 - Expand meat subscription service to include direct-to-consumer sales. | Total project budget: $4,220
Central Iowa Shelter Services | Des Moines | $25,000 - Add capabilities for online sales of tilapia and hydroponic lettuce. | Total project budget: $51,460
Andrew Pesek Farms | Coggon | $20,000 - Incorporate tree transplanting equipment to diversify farm operations. | Total project budget: $40,000
Picket Fence Creamery, LLC | Woodward | $25,000 - Increase production capacity for new value-added dairy products. | Total project budget: $50,000
Feed Iowa First | Cedar Rapids | $3,000 - Purchase hoop house and small grain mill processing equipment for culturally relevant foods and tender greens. | Total project budget: $6,000
Twisted River Farm | Mitchell | $6,000 - Establish an on-farm store; enhance vegetable processing and increase cold storage capacity. | Total project budget: $13,000
Clovergold Flower Farm | Newell | $3,700 - Increase floral production and drought mitigation. | Total project budget: $8,000
Ditmars Orchard & Vineyard | Council Bluffs | $12,325 - Purchase production efficiency equipment. | Total project budget: $75,000
Mossycup Farms | Clear Lake | $4,173 - Upgrade on-farm commercial kitchen processing capacity from small batch to larger scale production and increase farm store capacity to offer additional value-added products. | Total project budget: $8,347.49
Lutheran Services in Iowa | Des Moines | $4,402 - Increase produce processing capacity and enhance equipment for incubator farm produce raised by non-American born farmers. | Total project budget: $8,804.67
Jeff Loehr Farm | Moorland | $24,500 - Purchase dedicated processing equipment enabling in-state processing of Kernza® perennial intermedia wheatgrass. | Total project budget: $53,970
Soldier Creek Winery | Fort Dodge | $16,204 - Expand market and distribution of Iowa wines and food. | Total project budget: $53,970
Categories: Iowa, Government & Policy