The Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association is sounding the alarm. It sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture asking Secretary Brooke Rollins to immediately release funding for the Dairy Business Innovation Initiatives.
The program froze this week. The stoppage of nearly $29 million dollars stands to impact 420 dairy businesses nationwide. Hidden Springs Creamery in Westby is one of them.
On the farm, Travis Forgues manages 80 acres and milks 300 sheep for their farmstead cheese. Before the federal government froze the money, the DBIA was a tool for Forgues to supplement his own investments in growing the farm and creamery.
Forgues was relying on a $90,000 dairy business grant for a new freezer that’s getting installed. Now, he’s on the hook to pay that sum.
It’s not the only frozen program creating sleepless nights for Forgues. He tells Mid-West Farm Report he also has a loan through the REAP program for his solar array that came online in January. That too, has stopped.
WCMA and the Center for Dairy Research administered the Dairy Business Innovation Alliance or DBIA, one of the four DBI centers. DBIA has 88 awards in process today, with nearly $6.5 million in outstanding promised reimbursement.
“These are operations running on tight margins, hard work, and a shared passion for feeding the world, often staffed by families or a small team of community members,” says WCMA Senior Director of Programs & Policy Rebekah Sweeney. “They cannot afford a funding pause; they need action now.”
Learn more: https://www.midwestfarmreport.com/2025/02/26/dbia-sees-a-funding-freeze-cheesemakers-respond/
