en.Wedoany.com Reported - The USDA Rural Development has awarded a total of $11.5 million in grants and loans to 13 projects in Iowa. The funds will be used for agriculture, manufacturing, economic development, and renewable fuel sales. This allocation covers Iowa State University, cooperatives, businesses, and municipal utility companies.
Iowa State Director Mike Sexton stated in a press release that the recipients will use the funds to "boost economic development, advance value-added agribusiness, support manufacturing, and expand renewable fuel sales in Iowa." Among them, the Iowa State University Agricultural Marketing Resource Center received $1.4 million to provide online support for independent producers and processors dedicated to establishing "value-added agribusinesses."
The Rural Economic Development Loan and Grant Program will also issue six loans totaling over $5.9 million to Corn Belt, Central Iowa, and Heartland electric cooperatives, Southern Iowa and North West Rural electric cooperatives, and the Osage Municipal Utility. These loans will be re-lent to manufacturing, assembly, and processing facilities for constructing new facilities and purchasing equipment, with each project involving the creation of new jobs.
Another program, the Higher Blends Infrastructure Incentive Program, awarded six grants totaling over $4.1 million to Iowa businesses to expand ethanol and biodiesel sales. Molo Petroleum LLC received nearly $2 million of this funding to install 30 E15 dispensers, 6 B20 dispensers, 4 ethanol storage tanks, and 4 biodiesel storage tanks at seven gas stations in Scott, Linn, and Dubuque counties in Iowa, as well as Rock Island County in Illinois. Other businesses will install related equipment at gas stations in Delaware, Dubuque, Keokuk, Jackson, Butler, and Marshall counties.
Based on projections aggregated from the companies, once these expansions are completed, annual biofuel sales in Iowa will increase by over 6.2 million gallons. Sexton stated that the USDA is an "indispensable partner" in supporting businesses' access to capital and industry services.
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