MADISON, Wis. – The Dairy Business Innovation Alliance (DBIA), a partnership between the Center for Dairy Research (CDR) and Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association (WCMA), is awarding more than $1M to dairy farm and processor entrepreneurs and existing dairy businesses. In total, 26 dairy entrepreneurs from the five-state region of Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota and Wisconsin were selected to receive up to $50,000 each in awards from DBIA.

“The 52 applications we received this round were very competitive,” shares Vic Grassman, DBIA. “The total request for grants was approximately $2.3 million, and we saw a significant increase in the quality of the business planning and budgeting within the applications. It was also great to see the applicants make use of the DBIA webinar series as a resource to assist in drafting their applications. The benefits were clearly seen in the quality of applications.”

“We are delighted to be able to help our dairy farmers diversify, to assist the growth of farmstead operations and to encourage more value-added products,” said John Lucey, CDR Director.

The 2021 DBIA spring grant recipients, listed alphabetically by company name, are:

• Associated Milk Producers, Inc – Minnesota
• Berrybrook Organics – South Dakota
• Carr Valley Cheese Co. – Wisconsin
• Cider Farm Brands, LLC – Wisconsin
• Cinnamon Ridge, Inc. – Iowa
• Concept Processing, LLC – Minnesota
• Country View Dairy, LLC – Iowa
• Deerland Dairy – Illinois
• Farm Life Creamery, LLC – South Dakota
• GoodSport Nutrition, LLC – Illinois
• Hollands’s Family Cheese, LLC – Wisconsin
• Kasemeister Creamery – South Dakota
• Klemish Creamery – Wisconsin
• Landmark Creamery, LLC – Wisconsin
• Maple Leaf Cheese Coop dba Monroe Farmers – Wisconsin
• Millerville Cooperative Creamery Assoc. – Minnesota
• Moore Family Farms – Iowa
• Nature’s Prime dba: Khaaza – Minnesota
• Olala Creamery – Wisconsin
• Pasture Pride Cheese, LLC – Wisconsin
• Red Head Creamery – Minnesota
• Royal Guernsey Creamery, LLC – Wisconsin
• Simple Life Farms – Iowa
• Specialty Cheese Co., Inc. – Wisconsin
• Tuls Dairy dba DARI, LLC – Wisconsin
• Yodelay Yogurt, LLC – Wisconsin

The total number of awards and respective grant amounts by State:

“With targeted financial investments and broadly-available training, the Dairy Business Innovation Alliance is helping producers and processors get new value-added dairy ventures up and running,” said John Umhoefer, WCMA Executive Director. “The projects we’re supporting in this grant cycle hold great potential to strengthen the dairy industry, from farm to vat – and we look forward to funding more projects in the years ahead.”

Information about each of the grant recipient projects will be posted to the DBIA website: https://www.cdr.wisc.edu/dbia

Sign Up for DBIA Updates: Sign up to receive email updates from DBIA, including grant information and other news – https://www.cdr.wisc.edu/dbia-updates-sign-up-form

More information: Announcements regarding DBIA grants and trainings can be found at https://www.cdr.wisc.edu/dbia and www.WisCheeseMakers.org.

— Dairy Business Innovation Alliance

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