Posted 25 April, 2025
The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship has awarded 33 Choose Iowa value-added grants to Iowa farmers and small businesses located in 28 counties. Grant recipients were eligible to receive up to $25,000 in cost-share per project to increase or diversify their agricultural product offerings, expand markets and shorten supply chains. Choose Iowa awarded $463,000 in value-added grants to leverage a total investment by grant awardees of $1,325,710.05 to expand the availability of Iowa grown, Iowa raised, and Iowa made food, beverages, and ag products. The Choose Iowa grant announcement was made as part of Iowa Horticulture Week at Farmer Sarge’s in Algona, a veteran-owned produce farm, Choose Iowa member, and one of the 2025 grant awardees.
This year’s grants will support a wide variety of projects including produce processing and production, expanding farm-to-table dining, commercial kitchen construction, on-farm retail, refrigeration and freezer capacity for more direct-to-consumer sales, honey production and value-added processing, Christmas tree and popcorn sales, and more.
Individuals, businesses, and non-profit organizations that are currently living or operating in Iowa were eligible to apply for the Choose Iowa value-added grants, and preference was given to small to medium-sized entities. This year, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship received 99 eligible grant requests totaling $1,741,704.41 – more than four times the available funding – underscoring the interest and demand for funding to support local foods programs.
Since the Choose Iowa value-added grant program launched in 2022, the Department has awarded nearly $1.64 million in state funded cost-share to 100 projects, for a total investment of $5.6 million to expand local production and processing.