Transportation and Marketing

Dairy Business Innovation Initiatives

Fiscal Year 2022 Description of Funded Projects

Number of Grants Awarded: 4

Amount of Funds Awarded: $22,954,000.00

For more information, please visit: https://www.ams.usda.gov/services/grants/dbi.

NOTE: The project descriptions below were provided by the grant recipients.

California

Recipient: California State University, Fresno Foundation, Fresno, CA

District: CA – 022

Project Type: Continuing Initiative

Award Amount: $1,794,000

Website: https://www.dairypcc.net/

Dairy Business Innovation Initiative – Pacific Coast Coalition Phase III 

This project, led by California State University, Fresno, amplifies and extends the dairy business subawards, 

technical assistance, and coalition building initiated in Phases I and II. More specifically, over the coming three 

years and throughout California, Oregon, and Washington, the Pacific Coast Coalition Dairy Business Innovation 

Initiative Phase III will: 1) leverage the multi-state, multi-institution consortium dedicated to working with dairy 

processing industry members; b) dedicate nearly $1 million to dairy processing business competitive grants 

program targeting new and existing dairy processing, packaging, and marketing businesses; c) purchase small 

specialty equipment to augment technical assistance programs targeted to ice cream and whey-based products; d) 

communicate lessons learned and emerging opportunities; e) encourage coalition members to expand sharing of 

resources and expertise; f) initiate student dairy product innovation competitions in California and Oregon; and g) 

enhance the technical skills of existing as well as new dairy business personnel via professional development, 

product formulations, and innovation workshops. The Pacific Coast Coalition is comprised of existing and 

emerging dairy industry resources, including institutions of higher education (land grant, non-land grant, public, 

private); state dairy promotion programs; research organizations; and industry stakeholders, among others. The 

Coalition aims to achieve the overall project goal of spurring regional dairy innovation by assisting dairy businesses 

in developing higher value uses for their milk, diversifying their markets and income, and providing workforce 

training. Emphases will continue to be placed on benefits realizable by smaller dairy farm businesses, veteran 

dairy producers, and underserved dairy producers and communities.
Tennessee

Recipient: University of Tennessee Center for Profitable Agriculture, Knoxville, TN

District: TN – 002

Project Type: Continuing Initiative

Award Amount: $7,053,333.33

Website: https://cpa.tennessee.edu/

Southeast Dairy Business Innovation Initiative

The Southeast Dairy Business Innovation Initiative (SDBII) will continue to provide support to the dairy industry 

across 12 Southeast states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, 

South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. In previous DBI projects, the SDBII has created a support 

network across five main focuses: 1) understanding value-added dairy opportunities, 2) dairy finances and 

decision-support tools, 3) food safety and product innovation projects, 4) marketing and training tools, and 5) 

leadership and workforce development. This new award will focus on expanded and new initiatives around food 

safety and product innovation projects and marketing and training tools. This furthers the SDBII’s overarching goal 

of creating a holistic support system, benchmarks, and resources across all aspects of the dairy industry. Outcomes 

will include:

• In-depth surveys of consumers, producers, and processors.

• Developing innovative brand communication strategies.

• Providing a marketing/branding tool kit for value-added dairy producers.

• Implementing guides for brand development and direct-to-consumer marketing.

• Expanding raw milk and finished product quality testing laboratory to support research and outreach 

initiatives.

• Deriving dairy protein ingredients from bovine milk for alternative uses.

• Identifying potential technology to determine total acidity in cream and predict the freezing point of dairy 

products.

• Determining potential for reverse osmosis of defatted milk to yield ice cream base.

• Providing HAACP, Food Safety, and IMS training and resources.

• Providing a competitive subaward program for Southeast dairy businesses.

• Creating Extension fact sheets, publications, decision tools, and video resources to aid value-added dairy 

producers in their decision-making.

Vermont

Recipient: Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets, Montpelier, VT

District: VT – At-large

Project Type: Continuing Initiative

Award Amount: $7,053,333.33

Website: https://agriculture.vermont.gov/dbic

Northeast Dairy Business Innovation Center

The Northeast Dairy Business Innovation Center’s (NE-DBIC) will focus on continued support for resiliency and 

climate-forward dairy supply chain improvements. This initiative includes the states in the northeast region –

Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, 

Rhode Island, and Vermont. Opportunities are focused on farm and processing business viability, with a critical eye 

towards continuous improvement and shared learning. As the organic and conventional markets remain under 

stress from market volatility, inflation, and global supply chain issues, the NE-DBIC believes is increasingly important 

to support a regional approach to dairy systems.
Grant funded activities are focused on three primary areas: farm investments, processing investments, and 

workforce development. Similar to many other industries, labor issues are top of mind for both farms and 

processors across the region. The funding in this application builds on foundational support for workforce 

development implemented in the special American Rescue Plan round of funds and will engage a regional network 

of stakeholders to build responsive training opportunities. 

Funds will be distributed competitively through numerous subawards to dairy farms and processors, as they are the 

primary beneficiaries of this work. Subawards are used to fund the purchase of new equipment, develop innovative 

packaging solutions, for education and training, and to develop new systems or practices that support business 

success. Expected outcomes include job creation and maintenance, increased sales through existing or new market 

channels, new partnerships that result in higher profits, expanded infrastructure, and increased utilization of 

regional milk. The NE-DBIC also measures outcomes related to subrecipient education, satisfaction, and future 

outlook.

Wisconsin

Recipient: The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System, Madison, WI

District: WI-002

Project Type: Continuing Initiative

Award Amount: $7,053,333.33

Website: https://www.cdr.wisc.edu/dbia

Dairy Business Innovation Alliance (DBIA) 

The Dairy Business Innovation Alliance (DBIA), established in 2019, is a partnership between the Center for Dairy 

Research (CDR) and the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association (WCMA). The DBIA includes regional collaborators 

across eleven states: Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, South Dakota, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Nebraska, Kansas, 

and Missouri. Together with these collaborators, the DBIA provides access to expertise and resources, and insights to 

support dairy business innovation. With this new award, the DBIA will expand the scope of the previous programs to 

create a sustainable, reproducible model that promotes business innovation within the dairy industry. This project 

iteration will continue to build upon the previous grant infrastructures and complete a pipeline of efforts designed to 

enable dairy farmers/processors to get their ideas off the ground, into the market, and grow their businesses. This will 

be achieved via the following goals: 

• Assist dairy processors in their efforts to add value to their milk products. 

• Increase the support for our select DBIA cohort of companies in the development and growth of their 

business efforts by expanding the scope of grants and technical assistance across marketing, financial 

planning, and technical expertise.

• Address industry issues with a range of dedicated, time-limited projects whose objectives are aligned with the 

DBII and whose results will be shared.

The DBIA will continue to work with regional and national collaborators as it develops its programs with the 

potential for scalable application across the country.