The Hawkeye Area Community Action Program to benefit from the Choose Iowa program.  Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig recently announced that the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship is investing an additional $200,000 for the second full year of the Choose Iowa Farms to Food Banks Program. 

Under the Department’s Choose Iowa program, the initiative received a second year of funding from the Iowa Legislature during the 2025 session. Naig made the funding announcement in Hiawatha during a visit to HACAP, one of six food banks partnering with Choose Iowa and its members. 

The funding will be used to support six Iowa food banks including Food Bank of Iowa, HACAP, River Bend Food Bank, Northeast Iowa Food Bank, Food Bank of Siouxland, and Food Bank for the Heartland. 

Participating food banks match state funds dollar-for-dollar, doubling the impact. Eligible purchases include dairy products, meat and poultry, eggs, honey and produce. Additionally, flour and grains are now eligible to be purchased this year. During the first year, the program supported Iowans in 55 different counties.

In 2024, HACAP provided 10,379,276  pounds of food. HACAP serves eight counties, including Washington, Benton, Johnson, Jackson, Delaware, Linn, Dubuque, and Jones.