DBIA May 2023 Dairy Business Builder Grant Recipients

Project Summary: Beauty View Dairy Products is a first-generation creamery that is working to use milk from Beauty View Farm and the Konecky family of Wahoo, Nebraska to make ice cream and other frozen dairy products. This award will help Beauty View Dairy Products set up on-farm processing of the 6th generation dairy farm's milk to be able to produce more ice cream, Sherbert and a variety of other products. Those products will be available for sale at their new on-farm store and with other retailers.

Project Summary: Berning Acres is a second-generation dairy farm that prides itself on providing the best in cow care, we are passionate about the future of the dairy industry and love to invite consumers onto the farm to see first-hand what a modern day dairy farm looks like. This award will help them in providing a direct-to-consumer product by beginning to private label, sell and market their own cheese.

Project Summary: BoBell Cheese Company is a farmstead creamery that specializes in aged cheese. This award will help BoBell Cheese Company purchase larger equipment to get into new regional markets and also help expand their pasteurized cheese line.

Project Summary: Brunkow Cheese is a third-generation Wisconsin specialty cheesemaker since 1899. This award will help Brunkow purchase needed equipment to facilitate the Alpine-style Raclette production they have undertaken.

Project Summary: Concept Processing is a farmstead milk creamery that specializes in bottling and packaging fluid milk, half & half, heavy cream and butter. This award will help Concept Processing purchase 2 new 500-gallon vat pasteurizers to increase production capacity for a newly opened bulk-bag market for schools.

Project Summary: Dairy Distillery Alliance, LLC is a partnership between the Michigan Milk Producers Association and Dairy Distillery. This award will help Dairy Distillery Alliance to build a plant in Constantine, MI to transform milk permeate into low carbon ethanol for transportation fuel. The carbon offset by the ethanol will be used to lower the carbon footprint of Constantine's dairy products by 14,000 tons a year.

Project Summary: DARI LLC is a 4th generation family farmer-backed beverage company focused on delivering the power of fluid milk in new and unique ways as fuel for the life of consumers. This award will aid DARI in launching MOO’V flavored milk beverages to consumers throughout the United States. MOOV is one of the first high-protein functional milk beverages for kids ages 3-11. This grant helps us deliver the power of milk and communicate the story of modern dairy farmers.

Project Summary: Eau Galle Cheese Factory, LLC was established in 1945 and has been making award winning parmesan wheels since the 1950’s. Receiving the DBIA Dairy Business Builder Grant allows us to develop a process that turns wastewater into a renewable energy source instead of disposing of it by land spreading. In addition, they will convert the remaining solids left over into a value-added material our local farmers can utilize as a replacement for commercial fertilizer.

Project Summary: Farm Life Creamery handcrafts small batch artisan dairy products (cheese, bottled milk, ice cream, yogurt) using Grade A milk from our family's Holstein herd in Ethan, South Dakota. This award will help Farm Life Creamery purchase additional equipment that will aid in the production of a new cheese line, Sulguni, native to the Republic of Georgia, as well as make their own ice cream mix. Equipment reduces manual production costs as well as allows Farm Life to improve efficiency by sharing equipment across product lines to reduce costs, increase production and reach new markets.

Project Summary: Farm Stapels LLC is building an on-farm creamery to market single source, glass bottled fresh milk directly to local consumers. This award will help them with the purchase of a pasteurizer, bottle filler, bottle washer and supplies, freeing up room in the project budget to build a farm store and to develop a home delivery system.

Project Summary: Hastings Creamery is owned by a group of small organic farms, nurturing local communities with fresh milk and actively supporting the next generation of family farms. This award will help leverage their overall investment to produce butter at the facility again and answer their customers’ demand for a high-quality premium butter. The addition of this new product line will offer customers a full dairy product line while providing additional revenue and contribution margin to the company.

Project Summary: Hildebrand Farms Dairy produces fluid milk, cream, ice cream mix and butter in their signature glass jars distributed throughout Kansas. This award will allow the family dairy to expand emerging markets by adding packaging options suitable for restaurants, coffee shops and commercial institutions.

Project Summary: Hill Valley Dairy LLC produces artisan cheeses made with milk from their family farm. This award will help them purchase cheesemaking equipment for production of their new alpine-style cheese. This allows them to make more of their milk into cheese and expand to new markets.

Project Summary: Landmark Creamery LLC produces a collection of artisan cheeses. Landmark Creamery is acquiring an existing cheese plant/brand and this award will help ensure a successful transition with the acquisition of necessary equipment and branding/marketing resources.

Project Summary: Marieke Gouda is an authentic farmstead creamery that specializes in producing award-winning and premium Gouda cheese in traditional Dutch style. This award will help Marieke Gouda purchase equipment to launch a new deli/dairy/food service line of Gouda in slices, shreds and cubes, allowing them the flexibility to enter new sales and marketing channels.

Project Summary: Rolling Hills Dairy Producers Cooperative is a milk marketing cooperative representing 149 dairy producers. They provide high-quality milk to over 25 different processing plants located in Wisconsin and Illinois. Additionally, Rolling Hills markets custom-processed specialty cheeses made from our members’ milk. This grant will aid our cooperative in researching the viability of a conversion and storage facility for this custom-processed specialty cheese, which would expand their specialty cheese business.

Project Summary: Rosewood Diary is a small, third-generation, family-owned and operated cheese manufacturing company located in Door County, Wisconsin. This award will help Rosewood Dairy purchase a trial vat and two A-frame presses, allowing us to tremendously reduce the cost and waste involved in developing new products.

Project Summary: Royal Guernsey Creamery is a seventh-generation dairy farm making artisan butter. This funding allows for the expansion of butter storage and warehousing to increase the production, inventory and efficiency of the creamery.

Project Summary: Sartori Cheese is a fourth-generation, family-owned specialty cheese manufacturer from Plymouth, Wisconsin dedicated to making the best cheese in the world. This award will support Sartori to drive trial of our Wisconsin original BellaVitano cheese and expand distribution with key retail customers in the German market.

Project Summary: Schulte Dairy (AJ’s Dairy) is a third generation family dairy farm. This award will help AJ’s Dairy assist with purchasing equipment to start up a new cheesemaking facility.

Project Summary: SCREAM is a craft ice cream business with an edge. This award will help them get the equipment necessary to expand our operations and distribution.

Project Summary: Terrell Creek Farm is a family owned and operated farmstead artisan goat cheese dairy in the Ozark hills. This award will help Terrell Creek Farm purchase a larger cheese vat and a cheese press, allowing them to produce significantly more cheese, expand the types of cheese produced, and reach new markets.

Project Summary: Tulip Tree Creamery is a specialty artisan creamery producing unique handcrafted cheeses. This award will help them to invest in modern cheese ageing equipment, which will allow them to develop new products, increase capacity, reduce losses and make their products even better. It will have a significant positive impact on their company.

Project Summary: Two Cows Creamery LLC produces ice cream and gelato in Hot Springs, South Dakota. This award will help Two Cows Creamery produce their own ice cream base mix as well as making ice cream mix available to other creameries in the Black Hills.

Project Summary: Uplands Cheese is a farmstead cheesemaker who produces two original cheeses: Pleasant Ridge Reserve and Rush Creek Reserve. This award enables Uplands Cheese to purchase semi-automated packaging equipment, which will alleviate a production bottleneck and will allow Uplands to meet growing demand for its cheeses.

Project Summary: Widmer's Cheese Cellars, Inc. is a fourth-generation cheese company that produces award winning brick, cheddar, Colby, and Butterkase cheeses. This award will help Widmer's Cheese Cellars, Inc. purchase packaging equipment such as a cheese sealer and cheese packaging machine enabling them to modernize and increase the efficiency of their cut & wrap operation.