$100,000 in grants available to enhance swine industry
US - New round of grants is for second year of program totaling $1 million over ten years. Applications are due by Dec. 20 for projects related to increasing profits, helping independent producers compete, making market information available, protecting the environment, and other goals. The grants are funded by Smithfield Foods, Inc.Attorney General Tom Miller said Friday that grant funds totaling $100,000 next year are available for projects that advance and enhance swine production in Iowa. Proposals are due by Dec. 20, 2007.
The $100,000 in grants are for the second year of a program funded by Smithfield Foods, which is paying $1 million over ten years for the program. Miller released a "Request for Applications" (RFA) to identify and support innovative Iowa projects eligible for the grants.
Grant application forms, instructions, and requirements are available at (see under ‘latest news.’) Interested persons also may call the Attorney General’s Farm Division at 515-281-5351.
The Attorney General’s Office, in collaboration with Smithfield Foods, Inc., and two Democratic and two Republican legislators, will evaluate proposals submitted under the RFA and award $100,000 for next year to projects that demonstrate financial need and will promote hog production in Iowa in an innovative manner.
Miller said: "This grant program is part of a landmark settlement under which Smithfield made substantial financial commitments to Iowa’s pork industry and agreed to provide a contractor growers’ ‘bill of rights’ to their contract producers."
When the grants program was announced in October 2006, Dennis H. Treacy, vice president, environmental and corporate affairs for Smithfield, said: "Smithfield Foods is delighted to partner with Attorney General Miller to make funds available to Iowa hog producers. We pledge to work with Iowans to ensure that the projects we fund sustain the environment and further the hog production industry in the state."