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 through the Dairy Business Innovation Alliance.
Seven companies are receiving DBIA’s Dairy Industry Impact grants, and 35 businesses have been awarded Dairy Business Builder grants. Included in that Group is Lamers Dairy of Appleton. Lamers Dairy is a fifth generation, family owned and operated dairy processor that has been providing dairy products to families in Wisconsin since 1913. The award will help Lamers Dairy purchase a grease trap interceptor to help ensure operational compliance, safeguard the employment of staff members, and secure the viability of their small family farm producers for future generations.
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 as a whole. 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.
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,” said WCMA Executive Director John Umhoefer.
The Dairy Business Builder grant program is targeted at small-to-medium size 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.
The Dairy Business Builder grant recipients included:
- Henning Cheese of Kiel, WI: Henning Cheese is a fourth-generation family cheese company that manufactures a variety of cheeses along with curds and whips. 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.
- Pine River Dairy of Manitowoc, WI: Pine River Dairy is a fourth-generation manufacturing facility that produces a variety of butter products, including award-winning flavored butters, and currently serves a growing customer base that values locally sourced, premium dairy. 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.
- Weyauwega Star Dairy, Inc. of Weyauwega, WI: Weyauwega Star Dairy is a fourth-generation cheese manufacturing facility specializing in a variety of fresh and aged artisan cheeses. 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.
