The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship Recently announced recipients of the 2023 Choose Iowa Grants.

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig announced that 28 groups were awarded the grants, with the total awarded coming out to $463,000, and two recipients were projects in communities inside the Raccoon Valley Radio listening area. The grants are awarded to Iowa farmers, small businesses and nonprofits across the state to help increase or diversify their agricultural product offerings.

The grants support a variety of projects, including cider production, cold storage for meat, hydroponic lettuce and greens, beer production from Iowa honey and much more. That Iowa Girl in Panora was one recipient, and the $25,000 grant awarded to them will go towards increasing warehouse capacity to expand markets for more small Iowa producers, which had an original budget of $65,701.50. Brewer Family Farms, LLC in Dallas Center was the other group in the RVR listening area that received a grant. The $14,960 grant will go towards helping add value-added meats for schools through the Farm to School program, with the project originally having a budget of $29,920.