A business in the KKRF listening area recently received a Value-Added Grant from the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship.

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig announced Monday that 30 of the grants were awarded to Iowa farmers, small businesses and organizations around the state. Panora business That Iowa Girl was one of those recipients, receiving $19,215 to purchase a 10 foot refrigerated box with a reefer to mount on a leased cab and chassis truck. This will replace the businesses smaller reefer van, and help them to be more economical on their delivery routes. The anticipated cost of this project is $38,430, meaning the Value-Added Grant will cover half of that expense.

The announcement shared that the grants totaled $500,000, which will be used to leverage a total investment of $1,711,356.82 across the 30 projects. Naig also reported that IDALS received 130 eligible applications, requesting more than four times what was available for funding, highlighting the importance of grants like this one. Since the Choose Iowa Value-Added Grants inception in 2022, IDALS has awarded more than $2.14 million in state-funded cost-share to support 130 projects, and leverage more than $7.3 million in total investments for expansion in local food production, processing and distribution.