Amana brewery receives grant

ALGONA — Millstream Brewery Company in Amana received a Choose Iowa value-added grant from the Iowa Department of Agriculture.

The award of $25,000 will help with the purchase of storage, filtering and canning equipment as it launches a new line of hard cider, said a press release from the office of Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig.

The total project budget is $270,000.

Choose Iowa awarded $463,000 in value-added grants to leverage a total investment of $1,325,710.05 by 33 grant awardees to expand the availability of Iowa grown, Iowa raised, and Iowa made food, beverages and ag products, the press release said.

The Choose Iowa grant announcement was made as part of Iowa Horticulture Week at Farmer Sarge’s in Algona, a veteran-owned produce farm, Choose Iowa member, and one of the 2025 grant awardees.

Individuals, businesses, and non-profit organizations that are currently living or operating in Iowa were eligible to apply for the Choose Iowa value-added grants. Preference was given to small to medium-sized entities.

This year, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship received 99 eligible grant requests totaling $1,741,704.41 — more than four times the available funding — underscoring the interest and demand for funding to support local foods programs.

Since the Choose Iowa value-added grant program launched in 2022, the Department has awarded nearly $1.64 million in state funded cost-share to 100 projects, for a total investment of $5.6 million to expand local production and processing.

Questions about Choose Iowa and its member benefits, grants and programs can be emailed to ChooseIowaGrant@IowaAgriculture.gov. Find members or nearby farm at ChooseIowa.com.