Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig is asking lawmakers to boost funding for the state’s “Choose Iowa” program that supports individuals and businesses that produce everything from locally grown food to trees and soy candles. There’s a $100 yearly fee for enrolling in the program, which launched in 2023. The number of participating businesses jumped 113 percent last year.
Naig is asking for a $300,000 boost in the Choose Iowa program budget. He’d use part of that money to hire someone with experience in getting products placed in retail locations.
The program handed out half a million dollars in grants to businesses this past year and Naig says each state tax dollar awarded to a Choose Iowa business led to nearly a dollar of matching local investment.
