Secretary Naig Awards 30 Value-Added Grants as Momentum Behind Choose Iowa Continues to Build

SLATER, Iowa (Mar. 30, 2026) - Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig announced today that the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship has awarded 30 Choose Iowa Value-Added Grants to Iowa farmers, small businesses, and organizations located across the state. Grant recipients were eligible to receive up to $25,000 in cost-share funding per project to increase the availability of Iowa grown, made, and raised food, beverages, and ag products. The announcement was made as part of Iowa Ag Week at the future Main Street location of Home Kneads in Slater, one of the 2026 Choose Iowa Value-Added Grant recipients.

This year, $500,000 in value-added grants were awarded to leverage a total investment of $1,711,356.82 by grant recipients across the 30 projects. The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship received 130 eligible applications requesting $2.27 million in funding, more than four times the available funding.

This year’s cost-share funding will support a wide range of projects designed to help Iowa farmers and small businesses expand production, reach new markets, and add value to the products they grow and raise. Investments include commercial kitchen equipment, honey extraction and processing systems, cider and winery production equipment, refrigerated trucks and cold storage to improve distribution, on-farm retail spaces and farm stores, farmers market infrastructure, and specialized processing equipment for meats, dairy, produce, and other value-added products. Several projects will also create new aggregation and distribution opportunities for locally grown foods, helping connect Iowa producers with restaurants, wholesalers, retailers, and consumers across the state.

“Consumers increasingly want more local food and beverages and that’s great news for Iowa farmers and small businesses. These Choose Iowa Value-Added Grants help farmers, entrepreneurs, and small businesses grow their operations, expand processing capacity, and bring more customer-ready Iowa products to market,” said Secretary Naig. “By investing alongside these businesses, we are helping meet growing consumer demand while creating economic opportunity in communities across the state. The overwhelming popularity of this value-added program highlights the momentum and growing interest in local food as well as the high quality of the projects proposed across Iowa.”

Since the Choose Iowa Value-Added Grant Program launched in 2022, the Department has awarded more than $2.14 million in state-funded cost-share to support 130 projects across Iowa. These projects have leveraged more than $7.3 million in total investment to expand local food production, processing, and distribution across the state.

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Originally published by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship in March 2026.