Pictured: Hidden Springs Creamery produces multiple award-winning hard and soft sheep milk cheeses and a sheep milk ricotta.
The Dairy Business Innovation Alliance, a partnership between the Center for Dairy Research and the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association, has selected 42 small and medium-sized dairy businesses across the Midwest to receive approximately $4.6 million in grants.
Seven companies are receiving DBIA’s Dairy Industry Impact grants, and 35 businesses have been awarded Dairy Business Builder grants. Overall, DBIA received 98 applications for over $10 million in requested funds.
“These projects are a testament to the innovative spirit of the Midwest’s dairy farmers and processors, and their dedication to pursue solutions that elevate not only their businesses, but the industry as a whole,” says WCMA Executive Director John Umhoefer.
The Dairy Industry Impact grant program is targeted to help dairy businesses develop an idea or tackle a challenge with the potential to advance the dairy industry. In this offering, DBIA solicited projects related to exporting and sustainability. Seven companies have been selected and will receive a total of approximately $600,000 in reimbursable grants.
Meet the Wisconsin awardees:
Burnett Dairy Cooperative of Grantsburg
This award will enable Burnett Dairy Cooperative to continue researching innovative and environmentally responsible wastewater utilization options.
Lamers Dairy of Appleton
This award will help Lamers Dairy purchase a grease trap interceptor to help ensure operational compliance and safeguard the employment of staff members.
Moulin Rouge, LLC of Chippewa Falls
This project will determine the business feasibility of several smaller Wisconsin cheese companies working collaboratively to sell and distribute cheeses in strategic export markets. Developing a new, commonly-owned business that shares selling and distribution resources will improve its ability to compete more effectively for export customers. The project will identify the specific market, financial, and operational requirements for the new business entity’s success.
Organic Valley – CROPP Cooperative of La Farge
This project will convert Organic Valley’s butter packaging to an at-home compostable film, supported by a shelf-life study to ensure product stability and a comprehensive marketing campaign to educate consumers on its sustainability benefits.
The Dairy Business Builder grant program is targeted at small-to-medium-sized farmers or processors that are diversifying on-farm activity, creating value-added products, enhancing dairy by-products, or creating or expanding export programs. In total, 35 dairy businesses will be receiving grants worth more than $4 million.
Meet the Wisconsin awardees:
Amazing Ice Cream LLC, DBA Third Coast Frozen Distillery of Port Washington
This award will help with the purchase of a pallet jack/forklift-accessible freezer and a filler for their continuous ice cream machine.
Bekkum Family Farms LLC, DBA Nordic Creamery of Westby
This award will help Nordic Creamery shift some of its products into direct-to-consumer packaging, allowing them to reach new markets and expand sales.
Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream Company, Inc. of Madison
This award will help Chocolate Shoppe purchase equipment to increase production capacity and efficiency.
Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese of Waterloo
This award will help purchase additional processing equipment to increase production capacity and support continued business growth.
Foremost Farms USA of Middleton
This award will enable the cooperative to invest in advanced milk standardization technology, enhance product yield, improve consistency, and support continued innovation in its dairy processing operations.
Harmony Cheese LLC of Edgar
This award will enable Harmony to upgrade their packaging equipment to improve product shelf life, enhance food safety, and bring visual appeal to a whole new level.
Henning Cheese of Kiel
This award will allow Henning Cheese to expand production and to package their curds and whips into smaller retail and snack-size packages to help grow a burgeoning market and reach new customers.
Hidden Springs Creamery LLC of Westby
This award will help Hidden Springs streamline the production of Driftless, their flagship cheese, by adding equipment that will decrease draining time by a full workday and provide a more consistent product.
Holland’s Family Cheese LLC of Thorp
This award will help Marieke Gouda purchase labeling equipment, which will allow them to work more efficiently and produce more of their award-winning premium Gouda.
Mayer Farms Beef LLC of Slinger
This award will allow the Mayer family to expand their offerings to farmstead ice cream and reach new markets.
Moundview Dairy of Platteville
This grant will enable Moundview Dairy to purchase two 1,500-gallon tanks to increase their storage capacity for by-products such as salted whey.
Oxheart Farm LLC of Hager City
This award will allow Oxheart Farm to utilize more of the milk its cows produce, provide more of their customers with the weekly milk supply they are seeking, and increase the efficiency and long-term sustainability of their farmstead creamery business.
Pine River Dairy of Manitowoc
This award will help Pine River Dairy purchase new butter packaging equipment that will allow for increased production, enhanced product quality, and expanded market outreach.
Uplands Cheese of Dodgeville
This award will help modernize their cheese plant and upgrade their food safety programs.
Westby Cooperative Creamery of Westby
To continue their growth and commitment to food safety and quality, Westby Cooperative Creamery will install one 30,000-gallon milk silo and one 10,000-gallon cream silo, allowing for more effective cottage cheese production with organic and conventional milk supplies.
Weyauwega Star Dairy, Inc. of Weyauwega
This award will help Weyauwega Star Dairy purchase a chiller system, a part of a Reverse Osmosis system project, which will allow them to increase the value of the whey produced during cheesemaking by cooling and concentrating it. This will result in a reduction of their transport and tanker washing costs and carbon footprint.
Widmer’s Cheese Cellars of Theresa
This award will help Widmer’s purchase a curd mill, allowing them to produce more cheese curds, and will also allow them to add refrigeration to another bulk tank for milk and whey.
