DBIA December 2023 Grant Recipients

Project Summary: Alpinage Cheese 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. This award will help Alpinage cheese purchase packaging equipment to face new retail challenges and answer industry needs for shelf stable, exact weight products

Project Summary: Johnson farms is planning to start-up an on-farm creamery. It is naming this new aspect of their business as Amo Creamery and will sell pasteurized milk, cheese curds, and block cheddar. Adding Amo Creamery allows Johnson dairy to market to a local population that is within a 60-mile radius of their farm.

Project Summary: Black Radish Creamery is a young farmstead artisan cheese operation with a 5th generation small family dairy farm. This award is helping BRC expand the production and the efficiency in the production of our very popular bloomy and washed rinded cheeses. As well, with increased capacity generated, this grant is also allowing us to develop some new products that are unique to the market that utilize local collaborations with other artisan makers.

Project Summary: Blue Ice Creamery is a disabled-veteran owned small business in Brighton, IL. This award will allow them to purchase a larger batch freezer and purchase their very first ice cream vending machine! Because of restrictions caused by the owner's disabities, this machinery will allow them to continue serving an even larger community.

Project Summary: Bold Spoon Creamery is a premium ice cream manufacturing company located in Park Hills, Missouri. We specialize in crafting a diverse range of artisanal dairy based ice cream flavors that push the boundaries of traditional expectations. The approval of the project to expand our production facility through the purchase of items such as a pasteurizer, batch freezer and automated depositor will have a substantial impact on our business and help us meet current demand and fuel future growth.

Project Summary: Buckeye Milk House is seeking funds to launch a vertically integrated dairy farm and processing facility in northeastern Ohio. The operation will process bottled milk, ice cream, and cheese for sale through current market channels in Ohio, as well as new regional markets. This project also helps to sustain Ohio’s dairy industry by providing a market for family-owned dairies and providing Ohio consumers with high quality dairy products.

Project Summary: Burnett Dairy is a 125-year-old dairy cooperative in Northern WI that makes soft Italian and American cheeses in 2 cheese plants. Along with the cheese plants, Burnett Dairy Cooperative also has full-service agronomy, feed, grain, propane, and retail store business units. This award will provide us the necessary funds to confirm an alternative method to utilize our waste stream from the cheese plants to generate revenue instead of costing money to dispose of.

Project Summary: CannonBelles Cheese is an artisan cheese company from Cannon Falls, MN, making 8 flavors of cheese curds, Cheddars, Gouda, Colby, and award winning Queso Fresco. This award will allow CannonBelles to purchase equipment to add new products and educate the public on the importance of dairy.

Project Summary: Cinnamon Ridge is an artisan cheese company in Iowa. This grant will help us become more efficient in our cheese making and bring brand awareness to our farm of locally made products by a small family farm.

Project Summary: Concept Processing is a family owned on-farm creamery that produces milk, creams, and butter. This award will help Concept Processing purchase additional chilling equipment, allowing them to ensure quality by cooling pasteurized milk products with a safer and faster method to satisfy demand of a new market.

Project Summary: Country View Dairy is a dairy farm & creamery owned & operated by Dave & Carolee Rapson located in northeast Iowa. We produce all-natural minimally-processed dairy products including: yogurt, Greek yogurt, soft-serve frozen yogurt, sour cream, Barista's Best Milk, chocolate milk & prepackaged premium frozen yogurt. This Bulk Yogurt Automated Filler Project will help to automate our large bulk yogurt production & create new sales opportunities for the future.

Project Summary: Cream Cup Dairy, started in 2005, is a producer/processor of glass bottled milk, yogurt, ice cream, and cheese products. We distribute regionally to approximately 30 stores with very limited ice cream production capabilities. This grant will allow for purchase of an additional vat pasteurizer and batch freezer to significantly increase ice cream production and allow for expansion to new flavors, thus enabling better supply to retail stores.

Project Summary: Ducks in a Row Family Farm, located in Iowa County Wisconsin, is a first-generation pasture-based livestock farm that specializes in 100% grass-fed meats and 100% grass-fed dairy. This award will help Ducks in a Row purchase some dairy processing equipment, allowing them to make cultured dairy products such as yogurt from their liquid milk and capture a whole new market.

Project Summary: Rokeyroad Creamery is a Registered Holstein farm that will use this award to begin the processing of on-farm yogurt and other dairy products right on the farm, and direct to consumers. We will deliver to surrounding communities, and grow as we are able.

Project Summary: GoodSport Nutrition is a sports nutrition brand that launched the first ever dairy-based sports drink. This award will help GoodSport Nutrition develop a new on-the-go hydration concentrate allowing us to provide an innovative new dairy format that has been requested by competitive athletes.

Project Summary: Happy Cows Creamery is an extension of the second-generation dairy, New Horizon Farm. This grant will provide Happy Cows Creamery the resources needed to continue growing a successful family-owned farmstead operation. The expansion will allow the creamery to increase the volume of whole milk processed, diversify the variety of flavored milks offered, conserve the farm’s water source, and create a better work/life balance for the family.

Project Summary: Hidden Springs Creamery is a farmstead sheep cheese operation that produces 6 varieties of award-winning sheep milk cheeses. This award will help 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.

Project Summary: Holland's Family Cheese, DBA Marieke Gouda is a first-generation farmstead cheese operation that specializes in traditional Dutch Gouda cheese. This award will help Marieke Gouda upgrade and automate packaging, handling and shipping capabilities so that is can significantly improve operating efficiencies and lower packaging and shipping costs.

Project Summary: Kuehnert Milk House is a farmstead dairy processing facility located on Kuehnert Dairy Farm that specializes in farm fresh dairy products. This award will help Kuehnert Milk House purchase a new cheese vat and increase marketing aid, allowing them to make more cheese and reach new markets.

Project Summary: Marcoot Jersey Creamery is a seven generation dairy farm that focuses on farrmstead cheeses and dairy products for humans and dogs! This award will help our value added project of making dairy products for the pet industry.

Project Summary: Mesta Meadows is a ranch in the Ozark Highlands specializing in sheep products including sheep dairy products. This grant will enable the ranch to expand into offering sheep's milk ice-cream, yogurt, and pasteurized milk (the farm currently sells raw milk) by purchasing refrigeration, pasteurization, and other creamery equipment.

Project Summary: Minerva Dairy Inc. is a sixth-generation company known as the oldest family-owned creamery in the USA. Currently, Minerva Dairy focuses on the production of cheese and butter. This award will help Minerva Dairy up-cycle one of our main by-products, "buttermilk," by incorporating a third production line to manufacture a caramelized dairy syrup.

Project Summary: Protein Pints is a high-protein ice cream product designed for consumers looking for a healthy ice cream alternative. This award will help Protein Pints purchase the necessary equipment to begin manufacturing single serve high-protein ice cream bars.

Project Summary: Sassy Cow Creamery is a farmstead dairy milk bottling facility located just north of Madison Wisconsin. Our multi generational farm has now been bottling milk and making ice cream for 15 years. As the landscape of dairy products and consumer interests are always changing, Sassy Cow Creamery is putting the grant funds awarded to us for expanding and increasing our lactose free offerings by adding an additional milk silo and research into new products.

Project Summary: Semifreddo is a frozen dessert company that currently produces an Italian frozen dessert called Semifreddo. This award will help Semifreddo purchase a stretching/moulding machine that will help expand its portfolio into Burrata and other cheese varieties.

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Project Summary: Snowville Creamery is a woman-owned fluid processing plant on a mission to create enrichment from farmer to consumer. This award will help us launch our buttermilk line by utilizing the funds to work with CIFT (Center for Innovative Food Technologies) to formulate an innovative recipe and to purchase a bag filler to reach new markets.

Project Summary: Specialty Cheese Company produces cheese for niche and specialty cheese markets. This award will help us broaden our product line by incorporating whey proteins into some new cheese varieties.

Project Summary: Stil Dreamn Dairy is a small family farm owned and operated by the Dixon family. This intensive grazing herd located in the scenic hills of the Ozarks is well known for their outstanding Ayrshire and Guernsey cattle. The Dixons take great pride in producing high quality A2A2 milk. This award will help purchase fluid milk processing equipment for the on-site creamery addition, and bring a new product to the area. Stil Dreamn Dairy currently markets a cheddar cheese processed at Grison Creamery.

Project Summary: Jersey Valley Cheese is a division of Strack-View Farms LLC that makes their cheese from milk that carries only the A2 protein. This award will help Jersey Valley Cheese go farther in marketing and demoing our pepperjack and 2 tone flavors.

Project Summary: Sundae Morning Dairy is a small Brown Swiss dairy starting up in rural Iowa, far away from traditional processing plants. This award will help the dairy purchase equipment, allowing it to package and process fluid milk in sustainable glass bottles for use in its local community, simultaneously eliminating waste of single use packaging.

Project Summary: The Brown Cow Ice Cream Parlor & Creamery hand crafts super-premium small batch ice cream in-house using local ingredients. We make ice cream for ourselves as well as help others reduce the barrier to entry into the craft ice cream industry by custom making and co-packing ice cream for restaurants, ice cream shops and event venues. This award will allow us to expand our production facility to operate more efficiently as well as double our production and storage capabilities for our customers.

Project Summary: The Mullen Dairy & Creamery is a 4th generation dairy farm that bottles 25+ flavors of milk as well hosts many agritourism events ranging from a typical field trip to calf yoga. This grant will allow us to purchase a larger pasteurizer as well as a more efficient bottler to increase production for retail sales in our community.

Project Summary: Swanky Scoops produces handmade, small batch ice cream from carefully curated recipes featuring unique and unexpected flavors. This award will help upgrade equipment to scale production and increase their reach with the addition of regular retail hours.

Project Summary: Voelker Swiss Farms LLC plans to launch an on-farm creamery, Voelker Creamery, that makes ice cream and bottled milk using the high butterfat milk from the farm’s Brown Swiss cows. Voelker Creamery will use Planning Grant funds to develop a feasibility study for the milk processing venture. The goal is to develop an on-farm business that will sustain the next generations on the farm.

Project Summary: Westby Cooperative Creamery was founded in 1903 and is farmer owned by 129 local dairy farms. Our longstanding relationship within the community and state of Wisconsin has been rich with involvement and economic impact. We are the only remaining cottage cheese manufacturer in the state of Wisconsin are this award will help us expand our department to continue to provide our existing and new customers with our award-winning products.

Project Summary: Caputo Cheese is a second generation cheese processor and manufacturer of award-winning Italian style “hard” (Parmesan, Romano, imported, blends) and “fresh” (mozzarella, ricotta, burrata) cheeses. This award will help Caputo to maintain the highest of quality for our fresh mozzarella production as well as allow for greater flexibility to age hard cheeses to expand flavor offerings to our customers.

Project Summary: Milk Specialties Global is a leader in dairy ingredients and nutritional solutions for human nutrition. This award will help create a greater market for phospholipid-rich whey proteins by building the scientific support for this ingredient as a nutritional solution to help manage stress.

Project Summary: Rosewood Dairy is a 4th-generation family business that has been handcrafting artisan cheeses since 1961. This award will allow them to attend 4 tradeshows overseas and have several key sales documents translated into 3 foreign languages. Doing so will bring tremendous opportunity to increase their global sales reach.

Project Summary: Sartori Cheese is a fourth-generation, family-owned specialty cheese manufacturer from Plymouth, Wisconsin, founded in 1939. This award will support strengthening our position with a large influential customer in Canada, and securing a foothold with them in a new market for Sartori in the UK by supporting promotional sampling activity of our BellaVitano cheese. This will help us move significant volume to overcome the ever-present barrier of international freight costs.

Project Summary: Specialty Cheese Company produces cheese for niche and specialty cheese markets. This award will help us export our Paneer cheese to markets around the world.