CLIVE, Iowa- The Iowa Pork Producers have their own form of March Madness this year. The organization is running a contest to find the best pulled pork in Iowa.

The contest is called “Pulled Pork Madness.” They will use a bracket style competition for restaurants to compete for the best in Iowa.

The first year of the competition, in 2018,Moo’s in Newton was named the best pulled pork in Iowa.

“Just meant a lot, it’s a lot of hard work to have barbecue restaurant in a small town,” said Moo’s owner Jeremy Biondi. “It increased our business, about 30 per cent.”

“Pulled Pork Madness is our way of finding the best pulled pork in the state of Iowa,” said Kelsey Byrnes of the Iowa Pork Producers. “We are letting our followers on social media make that decision for us.”

Nominations are open until midnight Monday. There will be bracket style competition over the next few weeks, with the winner being crowned on March 29.

Jeff and Jodi Arment of Lynnville are competing this year to make the Sweet 16 and higher with their Smoking’ J’s BBQ.

“I love college basketball, March madness, this is the second year, our customers have an input on who gets to be nominated be in the pool, for the sweet 16, elite eight final four,” said Arment.

Arment knows last years winner Jeremy Biondi.

“Jeremy at Moos is a great guy, he puts out some good product,” said Arment. “He is actually the one that beat us last year we’re going to try to step up our game this year.”

The competition is done purely by popular vote over the Pork Producers Website. Last year’s competitions drew 1500 entries.

Here is a link for Pulled Pork Madness Nominations.