Choose Iowa Value-Added Grants Awarded

The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship has awarded 26 Choose Iowa Value-Added Grants totaling $463,000. These cost-share grants, which match up to $25,000 per project, were created to assist Iowa farmers, businesses, and nonprofits in increasing or diversifying their agricultural product offerings, expanding markets, and shortening supply chains. This year’s grants will support a wide variety of projects including delivery and cold storage for direct-to-consumer meat sales, fruit production and processing, vegetable processing, packaging equipment, cider and wine canning and bottling, farm store and food hub construction, honey production, culinary herb, lavender and cut-flower production, warehouse capacity, cover crop seed distribution, agritourism opportunities, and much more. A complete list of recipients is available online.