A new state board has voted to give a northwest Iowa firm a nine million dollar grant to expand research of genetically-alerted cows that may one day yield protein supplements from cow’s milk. Iowa Department of Economic Development director Michael Blouin says “it’s risky,” but it’s a risk the members of the Iowa Values Board and his department clearly believe is worth taking.” Blouin says it’s designed to try to help build a whole new segment of agriculture and place Iowa at the cutting edge in the life science industry. Governor Tom Vilsack says it’s a risk worth taking. Vilsack says the state has to take “calculated and well-thought-out risks” if it hopes to compete in the global marketplace. TransOva started lobbying legislators this winter for state backing, and Blouin says the timing of yesterday’s decision was crucial. Blouin says the company’s negotiating contracts with other firms that’ll be part of their research expansion, and it was time to “get moving” on the state’s commitment to TransOva. In addition, state officials used Iowa’s new economic development fund to lure a startup software company to move from New York City and build a nine-million dollar facility in Des Moines. Blouin says G-Commerce will move its 15 employees to Iowa, and hire another 142 workers over the next few years. The company is getting a one million dollar grant from the new “Iowa Values Fund.” Governor Tom Vilsack says G-Commerce will pay an average wage of at least 56-thousand dollars a year.Vilsack says those are the kinds of jobs he was confident the state could attract with the new Iowa Values Fund. The first Iowa Values Fund award was a 10-million dollar grant to Wells Fargo for a major expansion in central Iowa that will yield hundreds of jobs. Blouin says yesterday’s action on the TransOva and G-Commerce grants are major developments, too. Blouin says “it’s comparable to back-to-back home runs.”
