Baldwin Brings Home $3.45 Million for Wisconsin Dairy Businesses

WISCONSIN – Today, U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) announced she secured an additional $3.45 million for Wisconsin’s dairy businesses through her Dairy Business Innovation Initiative (DBII) – a program she created under the 2018 Farm Bill to help dairy businesses across the country grow, innovate, and reach new markets. The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced over $11 million total for the four DBIIs across the country to support small and mid-sized dairy businesses in the development, production, marketing, and distribution of dairy products through technical assistance and grants.

“My Dairy Business Innovation Initiative has helped Wisconsin dairy farmers, producers, and cheesemakers grow their operations, tap into new markets, and innovate new products,” said Senator Baldwin. “Traveling the state, I’ve seen firsthand the impact of this funding – from helping a local cheese processor triple production, to adding value to a seventh-generation dairy farm. Today’s announcement is exciting news for Wisconsin – helping more dairy businesses get the resources they need to grow our economy and continue Wisconsin’s legacy of America’s Dairyland.”

“The Dairy Business Innovation Alliance has created new opportunity for Midwestern dairy businesses to innovate and thrive. We’re thrilled to continue that critical work, strengthening not only farms and processors but also rural communities, and we thank U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin for her consistent and impactful support,” said Rebekah Sweeney, Senior Director of Programs & Policy at the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association.

This year’s funds are being awarded to the four current DBI Initiatives at California State University, Fresno, the University of Tennessee, Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets, and the University of Wisconsin. The initiatives will use the funding to provide valuable technical assistance and subaward funds to dairy farmers and businesses across their regions, supporting them with business plan development, marketing, and branding, as well as increasing access to innovative production and processing techniques to support the development of value-added products.

The funding will be awarded through Wisconsin’s Dairy Business Innovation Initiative which provides technical assistance and grants to dairy farms and businesses in Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Since 2018, it has delivered nearly $40 million to support Wisconsin dairy businesses.

Examples of DBII projects supported through previous rounds of funding include:

• Rosewood Dairy in Sturgeon Bay, WI is a small, third-generation, family-owned and operated cheese manufacturing company. A DBII award helped Rosewood Dairy to purchase a trial vat and two A-frame presses, allowing the business to tremendously reduce the cost and waste involved in developing new products.
• Marieke Gouda in Thorp, WI, a first-generation farmstead cheese operation specializing in traditional Dutch Gouda cheese, utilized a DBII grant to upgrade and automate packaging, handling, and shipping capabilities to significantly improve operating efficiencies and lower packaging and shipping costs.
• Alpinage Cheese in Oak Creek, WI is a dairy manufacturing start-up company focusing on making and aging high quality specialty cheeses in a niche, but ever-growing market of smear ripened dairy product. A DBII award helped Alpinage cheese purchase packaging equipment to face new retail challenges and answer industry needs for shelf stable, exact weight products.
• Burnett Dairy in Grantsburg, WI is a 125-year-old dairy cooperative in Northern Wisconsin that makes soft Italian and American cheeses in two cheese plants. Along with the cheese plants, Burnett Dairy Cooperative also has full-service agronomy, feed, grain, propane, and retail store business units. They used a DBII grant to confirm an alternative method to utilize waste streams from the cheese plants to generate revenue instead of costing money to dispose of.
• Ducks in a Row Family Farm in Iowa County, WI is a first-generation pasture-based livestock farm that specializes in 100% grass-fed meats and 100% grass-fed dairy. A DBII award helped Ducks in a Row purchase dairy processing equipment, allowing them to make cultured dairy products such as yogurt from their liquid milk and capture a whole new market.
• Hidden Springs Creamery in Westby, WI is a farmstead sheep cheese operation that produces 6 varieties of award-winning sheep milk cheeses. DBII funding helped Hidden Springs modernize their equipment in order to increase efficiency, allow for a diverse cheesemaking team and to utilize their whey biproduct into a whey ricotta.

Senator Baldwin first created the DBII program in 2018, successfully getting the legislation included in the 2018 Farm Bill. As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator Baldwin works to secure funding for the program each year to support Wisconsin businesses. Earlier this year, Senator Baldwin secured $12 million for the DBII program in the government funding package for Fiscal Year 2024. In 2022, Senator Baldwin also helped secure an additional $80 million for DBIIs through the American Rescue Plan Act. In 2023, Senator Baldwin introduced bipartisan legislation to reauthorize and strengthen the Dairy Business Innovation (DBI) Initiatives.

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