Buena Vista County farm worker wins homegrown talent grant

The Iowa Lakes Corridor Development Corporation named Clayton Ehlers of Buena Vista County one of four winners of its 2026 Homegrown Talent Initiative, a program designed to help keep young, college-educated residents working in the four-county region.

Ehlers, who grew up on a farm outside Marathon, graduated from Sioux Central Community School District and earned a degree from Dordt University in May 2024. He now lives in Albert City and works on his family farm, with plans to expand and diversify the operation, placing him squarely in the group the Corridor says it wants to keep in northwest Iowa.

Each award is worth $6,000 total, paid as $1,500 a year over four years. The money can be used for student loan repayment, mortgage payments or childcare reimbursement, a practical mix of support aimed at the costs that often push young adults away from rural counties.

The Corridor received 17 applications for the 2026 round and invited the top 12 applicants to in-person interviews before selecting one recipient in each of its four member counties: Buena Vista, Clay, Dickinson and Emmet. Along with Ehlers, the other winners were Tyler Adams, Dalayna Brugman and Morgan White-Muller.

The program is now in its second year, and the latest awards show it reaching farther across the region. Curt Strouth said two people received the grant in the program’s first year, but this year the Corridor was able to award someone in all four counties, a sign that the initiative has grown in both reach and capacity.

For Buena Vista County, the result is less about a one-time scholarship than about a workforce pipeline. Ehlers already works in agriculture, has ties to the county through Marathon and Sioux Central, and is building his future in Albert City. That combination of local roots, postsecondary training and family-farm experience is exactly what the Corridor is trying to retain as employers and farms across the region look for steady labor and long-term leadership.

The initiative’s fundraising will continue with the third annual Homegrown Talent Initiative Golf Tournament scheduled for July 24, 2026, at Buena Vista Golf Course at Lake Creek. The tournament supports the grants and helps finance a program that is increasingly being used as a retention tool for rural northwest Iowa, not just another economic-development announcement.