The commercially important Choose Iowa program has expanded its food bank investment, underscoring that food security is real even in rich nations.

For a start, the Iowa state Department of Agriculture on July 31, 2024 allocated $225,000 to food banks for healthy diet purchases. 

Announcing this investment, state’s Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig added that “food insecurity is a real and pressing issue.”

Efforts to channel supplies to the locals will be through a new Choose Iowa Food Purchasing Program. The program will link food banks with producers and traders who already belong to Choose Iowa.

This repackaging of the purchasing program will give Choose Iowa a new philanthropic face. Traditionally, the membership initiative has been promoting state produce between farmers, businesses and local consumers.

Also joining the state government at providing equal contributions are private community food banks such as the Food Bank of Siouxland.

“Food Basket of the World”

Ironically, Iowa has chosen to feed itself despite being famous as “the food basket of the world.” Aptly, Chris Ackman, the communications manager at Hawkeye Area Community Action Program (HACAP) used this same label in a state feeding context.

He was spot on as around 90% of Iowa’s total area is under agriculture, covering over 30 million acres, as of 2014. 

The state leads in American corn, biofuel (corn ethanol) and pork production. It also commonly ranks second in soybean production nationally.

Iowa is also a major producer of wheat, rye, oats, flaxseed, hay, red clover, green vegetables, apples and potatoes. Leading animal products include pork, bovine red meat and eggs.

With this maximum commitment to agriculture, it therefore comes as no surprise that the state is now fighting food insecurity. To learn more about Iowa’s other leading scores in food and agriculture, below are a few highlights,

Iowa Food and Agriculture Statistics

Located in a fertile area in the upper American Midwest, Iowa leads in several areas of national agricultural production. One of these is crop production, especially corn. In 2020, corn output reached 2.3 billion bushels or 16% of the national total, the highest nationally. Soybean output in 2020 was just as impressive at 494 million bushels, second only to Illinois’ nationally, per Iowa State University’s data.

How is food security in the U.S.? 

USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) reported that 87.2% of U.S. households met food security needs in 2022.  Food insecurity only affected 12.8% of the population, 5.1% of which had very low food security. 

Is Iowa the biggest agricultural state in the U.S. by revenue? 

According to ERS,  Iowa had the second highest state-by-state earnings from agriculture in 2022 at $44,781,637,000, after California. This represented 8.3% of all national agricultural revenue for 2022, vis-á-vis California’s 10.9%. 

What portion of federal red meat does Iowa produce per year?

Other than field crops, the state is a net producer of animal products. Data by Iowa State University indicates that the state produced 9 billion pounds or 16.1% of the nationwide commercial red meat in 2020. Beef, calf meat, pork and mutton lead as the main red meat sources in the state. With over 5,400 hog farms, Iowa leads American pork production.

What is the use of corn in Iowa?

50% of corn in the state goes into biofuel production. The Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics reports that the state leads national biodiesel production at 470 million gallons a year.