We hear a lot about the Iowa Values Fund and the handouts to large
corporations in order to get them to stay in Iowa or perhaps move their
business to Iowa. There are those who say we should continue these,
that it’s the only way to compete with other states, and there are
those who say that it’s nothing more than precious tax dollars out the
window.

In north Iowa, when you bring up the Values Fund, a common criticism is
that most of the awards are going to the metropolitan areas and that
the rural areas of the state are being left to fend for themselves.
There have been some Values Fund dollars to make it this far north, but
one could certainly argue that it has not created the kind of jobs that
are needed.

When asked about the criteria for a Values Fund award, state economic
development officials will tell you that one of the things they look at
is the return on investment that the state will receive. If the state
is going to invest in a company to bring jobs to the area, it’s going
to be good paying jobs and a lot of them, they say.

While that criteria certainly makes some sense, I think it’s also
important to keep in mind that the entire state should be put on a
level playing field for economic development dollars. For example, if I
have a project in Des Moines that promises to create 20 jobs, it would
hardly be noticed; but if I have a project that would create 20 jobs in
Swaledale, it would be huge.

The Swaledale Bio-Village project is something I have been working on
now for over a year. The project involves a bio-fuel station offering
85% ethanol and other alternative fuels, an Iowa products store and
restaurant, and an RV Park; all located right off Interstate 35 in
northern Iowa. The entire project incorporates a state of the art
design that would rely on renewable forms of energy to power the
facility, taking full advantage of wind and solar power, as well as
utilizing renewable materials in its construction.

But perhaps the most interesting component is the state certified
food-processing kitchen. I want to focus on the kitchen in this column
as I
think it best illustrates rural Iowa’s ability to come up with creative
solutions to economic development. The food-processing
kitchen would provide a facility for local farmers and growers to
process their crops and add value to them. It would also serve as a
business incubator sparking entrepreneurism in the entire region. For
example, let’s say you make the world’s best salsa, and everyone tells
you they wish they could buy it in the store because it’s so good. But
since you make the salsa in your home kitchen, you are unable to sell
it at retail outlets. You are limited to farmer’s markets and bake
sales. If you use this facility to make your salsa, it can then be sold
in retail outlets and even sold to restaurants. All of a sudden, you
have a business.

This approach to economic development illustrates that with a lot of
work, rural Iowa doesn’t have to succumb to the corporate farms and can
become a celebration of itself. I believe that rural communities can
take innovative approaches to economic development and be successful. I
also believe that the state legislature should find a stable funding
source for the Iowa Values Fund and put north Iowa on a level playing
field with the rest of the state.