A U.S. Department of Agriculture expansion loan of 450-thousand dollars is headed to Golden Oval Eggs in Winnebago County in north central Iowa. At today’s presentation, Iowa Congressman Tom Latham said Congress can help communities best by developing local business. He says the federal transportation bill in the works will increase funding for highways and bridges that also are important for north Iowa. Latham says with livestock and commodity prices good, there’s renewed interest in investing in Iowa rural communities. He praises the ethanol plant going up nearby in Hanlontown, which is expected to push up corn prices and give a local market for crops. Daniel Brown is the U-S-D-A’s Rural Development director in Iowa.He says the agency wants to reinvest so small communities have a future, and he says today’s event is just what the agency wants. Golden Oval board member Jeff Woodley farms near the plant and says the expansion will mean more jobs. He says it means quite a bit in this part of the country when you can add 35 or so new jobs, plus he says most days there are 100 construction jobs thanks to the addition going on. Heartland Power Co-op in Thompson applied for the ten-year zero-percent U-S-D-A loan and offered it to Golden Oval to expand the liquid egg facility at the Thompson plant. They will also add a feed mill for hens that currently produce one-point-four million eggs a day.