Funds

Californian dairy businesses bag US$300,000 in first round of DBII funding


The California Dairy Innovation Center (CDIC) has announced six California winners of Dairy Business Innovation Initiative grants by the Pacific Coast Coalition, the USDA-funded initiative hosted by Fresno State University supporting dairy product, process and packaging innovation.

The grants are the first in the US$1.8m DBII award from the USDA that created the Pacific Coast Coalition to support dairy businesses in California, Oregon and Washington in the development, production, marketing, and distribution of dairy products. These are supplemented by additional phases of funding totaling over US$20m announced in November by USDA.

A second round of funding, which will award around $4m in grants from US$50,000 to US$1m, will be announced later in January.

The winners include Capstone Ranch/Wonder Cow (Madera County), Central Coast Creamery (San Luis Obispo County), Foggy Bottom Boys (Humboldt County), Nicasio Cheese Company (Marin County), Schoch Family Farmstead (Monterey County) and Weststeyn Dairy Farm (Glenn County).

John Talbot, CEO of the California Milk Advisory, commented: “The continued investment in dairy innovation at both the farm and plant level will help take our industry to the next level. And CMAB’s California Dairy Innovation Center was instrumental in this grant process and has resources to guide qualified California dairy businesses to take full advantage of these opportunities. We appreciate Fresno State University, host of the DBII grant. The dedication of Dr Carmen Licon and Dr S. Pheasant and the administrators and grant staff at Fresno State have moved this initiative forward in a significant way and created a smooth pathway for grants to start making a difference.”



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