CONESVILLE, Iowa. (KWQC) — A Conesville farm is working to connect with grocery stores across the region, with help from a state program designed to promote Iowa-grown products.
Busers Produce hosted a farm tour Thursday, giving grocery store buyers a look at its operation and products. Jordan Lysons, the farm owner, said the goal is to give buyers a better understanding of the product.
“Giving them an understanding of where the food comes from, how it’s raised, is it raised properly, sustainably, and with the end user in mind,” Lysons said.
Choose Iowa program
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig said the tour aligns with the goals of Choose Iowa, a state branding program that launched in 2023 to promote Iowa-made and Iowa-grown products.
“We’re connecting the dots between our farmers, in this case, growing cantaloupe and watermelon, and the folks who make the purchasing decisions to put this in grocery stores across the state of Iowa,” Naig said.
Naig said demand for local products is growing, but one of the biggest challenges is simply making introductions between growers and grocery buyers.
“Sometimes it’s a matter of knowing that each other exists, knowing that the store is looking for that type of product, but also then having the producers to be able to supply it,” Naig said.
Grant funding expansion
Buser’s Produce got a Choose Iowa matching grant, which the farm is using to purchase a refrigerated trailer to expand deliveries.
“This helped ease that financial burden of expanding into central Iowa and meeting that goal of trying to put Iowa produce on Iowa plates,” Lysons said.
The owners said the equipment makes expansion possible and helps demonstrate that Iowa agriculture extends beyond row crops.
“The grant certainly will help ease some of those problems that we were going to end up having and will allow us to expand Iowa agriculture into a little bit different segment than the general population thinks of,” Lysons said.
Copyright 2026 KWQC. All rights reserved.
Dining and Cooking