Available Funds

$70,000 has been allocated. Each school building in a district was eligible for up to $1,000. Public and private K-12 schools were eligible for grant funding.

Schools must provide a minimum of a one-to-one (1:1) financial match for the program award. In-kind contributions are not accepted. For example, a school receiving $1,000 must provide at least $1,000 from other sources for a total of $2,000 spent on local foods.

Eligible Producers

To be eligible for funding, food must be purchased from Choose Iowa members. A current list of members can be found on the website (chooseiowa.com/find-local). If schools wish to purchase from specific Iowa producers, please encourage them to apply to become a Choose Iowa member as soon as possible to avoid reimbursement delays if they are not already members of the Choose Iowa brand program. Members enjoy a variety of benefits beyond being eligible to participate in this Choose Iowa Food Purchasing Pilot. Visit the Choose Iowa website for more details on membership benefits at https://www.chooseiowa.com/members. If producers need help enrolling in the program or have any questions, please direct them to chooseiowa@iowaagriculture.gov. The Choose Iowa team would be happy to help producers.

Food hubs that are Choose Iowa members are also eligible for food purchases within the program. Please make sure to communicate that products purchased through food hubs must come from Iowa producers as some food hubs source from outside the state. The food hubs must be a Choose Iowa member, however while the producers the food hubs source from do need to be within Iowa, not all those producers are required to be Choose Iowa members (although they are strongly encouraged to join).

Eligible Purchases

Schools may purchase meat and poultry, dairy products other than milk, eggs, honey and produce.

Awarded Schools

The following schools, listed in alphabetical order by county of location, received grants:
Appanoose: Moulton-Udell Community School District
Benton: Belle Plaine Community School District
Black Hawk: Bosco Catholic School System
Boone: Boone Community School District
Cass: Griswold Community School District
Clayton: MFL MarMac Community School District
Dallas: Waukee Community School District
Dubuque: Holy Family Catholic Schools
Franklin: Hampton-Dumont Community School District
Grundy: Dike-New Hartford Community School District
Hamilton: Webster City School District
Harrison: Missouri Valley Community School District
Howard: Riceville Community School District
Ida: OABCIG Community School District
Jefferson: Fairfield Community School District
Johnson: Lone Tree Community School District
Lee: Central Lee Community School District
Linn: Center Point-Urbana Community School District
Linn: Xavier Catholic Schools
Marion: Pella Community School District
Mitchell: Osage Community School District
O’Brien: Sheldon Community School District
Page: Clarinda Community School District
Plymouth: Hinton Community School District
Polk: Bondurant-Farrar Community School District
Pottawattamie: Council Bluffs Community School District
Poweshiek: Montezuma Community School District
Ringgold: Diagonal Community School District
Scott: Pleasant Valley Community School District
Sioux: West Sioux Community School District
Winneshiek: Decorah Community School District
Winneshiek: St. Teresa of Calcutta Catholic School
Woodbury: Westwood Community School District

Selection Criteria

For the Food Purchasing Pilot Program for Schools, a diverse range of schools will be picked for funding to reflect differences in size, geographic location, student ages and experience (or lack thereof) with local food.

Reimbursement

Reimbursement requests can be submitted on a quarterly basis.

To request a reimbursement, please complete and submit the reimbursement form provided by Choose Iowa. List the producer(s) purchased from, what was purchased, quantity of purchases, the date of each purchase, the cost and then the half eligible for reimbursement. Please also submit proof of purchase for every item purchased. This can be in the form of receipts, invoices marked paid, etc. Proof of payment must be included for each item submitted in the reimbursement request. 

Example: For a reimbursement request of $1,000, purchases of local Iowa foods from Choose Iowa members totaling $2,000 or more must be included on the paid invoice(s).

Reporting Information

Participating organizations will need to provide information about the number of students served, farms used, and the categories of items purchased (i.e. milk, eggs, beef, etc.) Please use the reporting form created by Choose Iowa. Any additional quotes or relevant information would also be appreciated so that IDALS can report to the Iowa Legislature on the program. 

Submitting Information

Submit reimbursement requests and requested reporting information to ChooseIowaGrant@IowaAgriculture.gov

Key Dates

Funding was awarded in April 2025 and will be spent by June 2026.

How to apply for a Choose Iowa Food Purchasing Pilot Program for Schools Grant

1. Create an account
2. Log into your account
3. Select the appropriate grant from the home page. In this case it would be the Food Purchasing Pilot Program for Schools.
4. Fill out the questions -- the portal will save your answers as you go!
5. Submit your application.