More than three dozen dairy businesses across the Midwest have earned Dairy Business Builder grants totaling $3.2 million. This includes 12 in Wisconsin. The grant program is administered by the Dairy Business Innovation Alliance.
DBIA is a partnership between the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association and the Center for Dairy Research at UW-Madison.
“This round of DBIA grant funding was one of the largest so far, with over $3.2 million awarded to 37 small dairy businesses to expand production of value-added dairy products across our region,” says CDR Director John Lucey. “Around 50 percent were first-time recipients and small farmstead operations were close to 40 percent of the awardees.”
The grant program aims to encourage small- to medium-sized dairy farmers, entrepreneurs, and processors in its 11-state service region to pursue innovative projects such as farm diversification, on-farm processing, value-added product creation, and efforts to market products for export. Reimbursement grants of up to $100,000 each are awarded following a competitive review process.
The next DBIA grant application period will open in August 2024.
“DBIA backs projects aimed at fostering new growth and enhancing profitability, benefiting not only individual businesses but the broader dairy industry as a whole,” says WCMA Executive Director John Umhoefer. “WCMA is proud to support farmers, manufacturers, and processors in their endeavors to fortify the future of dairy.”
Wisconsin companies and cooperatives receiving grants are:
Alpinage Cheese LLC, Oak Creek, WI
Amazing Ice Cream LLC, Port Washington, WI
Bekkum Family Farms LLC, DBA Nordic Creamery, Westby, WI
Birch Point Distillery, Westby, WI
Burnett Dairy Cooperative, Grantsburg, WI
Hidden Springs Creamery LLC, Westby, WI
Highfield Farm Creamery, Walworth, WI
Klemish Creamery, New Auburn, WI
Landmark Creamery, Belleville, WI
Rosewood Dairy, Inc. DBA Renard’s Cheese, Algoma, WI
Sartori Cheese, Plymouth, WI
Uplands Cheese, Dodgeville, WI
