08/11/2026
ISRC Hosts Sixth Annual Meals from the Heartland Event
The Iowa Soybean Research Center at Iowa State University hosted its sixth annual Meals from the Heartland food-packaging event on August 6, 2026. More than 70 volunteers from Iowa State University, Corteva U.S. and John Deere packaged more than 42,000 meals in two hours at ISU’s Hansen Agriculture Student Learning Center.
Many thanks to our volunteers and to Cargill who has sponsored the event each year with a generous monetary donation to cover the cost of the ingredients of the meals, which contain soy protein.
The ISRC hosts the event each August to celebrate Soybean Month in Iowa. Meals from the Heartland works with teams of volunteers from local organizations to package meals for delivery to food insecure people locally, across the U.S. and around the world. This year, some of the meals will stay in the Ames, like Food at First, and Des Moines areas as well as going to international locations.
🎉This year, the ISRC delivered 20 boxes containing 4,320 meals to Food at First.🎉
Pictured delivering meals to Food at First from left are Mark Licht and Jill Cornelis of the Iowa Soybean Research Center (ISRC), Patty Yoder of Food at First, Steve Whitham of ISRC, and Jennifer Hanson of Food at First.
