Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig announced that the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship has awarded more than $368,000 in grants to help increase demand for Iowa’s specialty crops. The funding will be distributed to support 11 projects from eight organizations that raise awareness about, drive demand for, or create new markets benefiting Iowa’s specialty crops. The grant dollars are made available through a partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and are authorized as part of the Farm Bill. “Specialty Crop Block Grants are instrumental in helping to develop, diversify and expand markets for specialty crops within Iowa, all of which benefits Iowa farmers and the communities they call home,” Naig said in a prepared statement. “As we build Choose Iowa, the state’s signature brand for Iowa-grown, Iowa-raised, and Iowa-made products, consumers will ultimately benefit from the availability of more locally grown food and ag products which these grants help to enable.”