Leopold Center - Leveraging Leopold - Spring 2006 newsletter

Two grants from the Leopold Center’s Marketing and Food Systems Initiative have been used to obtain funds for a new Southwest Iowa Entrepreneurial Center. The new center will serve 22 counties in southwest Iowa. The Southwest Iowa Coalition recently received a $300,000 Rural Community Development Initiative grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to open the center. The group also has received funds from the Iowa Department of Economic Development.

Two Leopold Center grants are funding activities that are part of this regional effort. ISU extension specialist Lynn Adams used a $21,000 grant to conduct the “Kitchen Project,” a series of meetings that involved 54 producers and processors. ISU extension specialist Steve Adams is receiving $18,000 over two years to survey 1,711 food vendors in southwest Iowa to determine their interest in purchasing natural, organic, locally grown items for their businesses. A producer network will be developed during the second year of the project.