Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture

Microloans, Latino farmers headline new Leopold Center research results

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November 10, 2010

AMES, Iowa -- Iowa has a plethora of mom-and-pop stores, family-owned farms and traditions. Sometimes, especially in this economy, these types of businesses need financial assistance. Iowa MicroLoan has a program that provides capital for small entrepreneurs who are building new businesses and seeking direct loans.

Some of the groundwork for this program was made possible by a competitive grant to Iowa State University’s Community Vitality Center from the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture. The grant funded interviews with Iowa’s technical assistance networks and a survey of lenders, which led to creation of the Iowa Foundation for Microenterprise and Community Vitality. The foundation operates Iowa MicroLoan, a source of loans and advice for small business entrepreneurs, including those interested in local food enterprises. The foundation is assisting in administrations of the loan program for Iowa’s new $5.2 million “Save our Small Business Fund” coordinated by the Iowa Department of Economic Development; it also is a recent recipient of funds from the USDA’s Rural Microentrepeneur Assistance Program (RMAP).

The Iowa MicroLoan program is just one topic covered in summaries of recently completed grants from the Leopold Center. Other reports outline impacts of Leopold Center-supported projects for Latino farmers, young farmers, recreational landowners, grass-based dairies and on-line learning.

These are the six recently completed research projects:

  • Establishing an Iowa Microenterprise Foundation
  • Latino farmers and local multicultural food and marketing systems
  • Adding a new generation to Iowa's sustainable farms
  • Iowa recreational property ownership: Identification, contact and social dynamics of multiple-use perennial landcover
  • Sustainable economic development through organic and grazing dairy farm establishment and transition, and
  • On-line learning: Using webinars to teach about succession and enterprise development issues

You can find one-page summaries and a longer version with contact information to get further details on the Leopold Center’s “Completed Grants” page on the web. Other project summaries released in 2010 can be found on the same page, or by searching for specific topics of interest.

The Leopold Center has operated a competitive grants program since 1988 for research, education and demonstration projects, and has funded more than 420 projects. These summaries show major findings, impact and outreach from each project, and are condensed from the final project reports submitted by principal investigators or researchers. 

For more info contact:

Rich Pirog, Associate Director, (515) 294-1854, rspirog@iastate.edu

Laura Miller, Leopold Center Communications, (515) 294-5272, lwmiller@iastate.edu

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