The Pacific Coast Coalition is seeking applications for its Funding for Dairy Processors Program.
Donor Name: Pacific Coast Coalition
State: Selected States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: (mm/dd/yyyy) 09/30/2024
Size of the Grant: More than $1 million
Grant Duration: 1 Year
Details:
Addressing these goals is intended to simultaneously accomplish dairy product market diversification to reduce risk and develop higher value uses for dairy products; promote business development that diversifies farmer/processor income through processing and marketing innovation and encourage the use of regionally produced milk.
Projects must meet At Least One of the following nine goals:

Developing new dairy value-added products
Adapting current dairy products and creating new value-added products
Creating new product lines and expanding the dairy product portfolio
Expanding milk usage beyond food and drink
Adding value to milk by increasing its intrinsic value
Adopting alternative processing technologies
Building future opportunities for value-added ingredients
Developing sustainability leadership through innovation
Extending awareness and consumption of higher-value dairy processing products.

Funding Information
$1.5 million is available.
Grant Period
12 Months.
Uses of Funds

Hiring an independent consultant to develop planning documents for the dairy business such as a feasibility study, business plan or marketing plan that will be useful in determining the likelihood of success or to develop a new distribution channel.
Training needed to develop or market dairy products (e.g., ice cream making short courses, cheese industry conference, Dairy 101: Introduction to Dairy Processing and Management short courses, etc.). Funds may include registration fees, transportation (the lower business class airfare or mileage at the IRS standard mileage rate), and lodging (at current rates in the continental United States “CONUS Rates”).
Equipment for dairy processing and packaging, such as pasteurizers, cheese presses, and labelers.
Product development assistance and services in recipe development, sensory evaluation, packaging considerations or shelf-life studies from private and public sources including but not limited to PCC-DBII collaborators such as the dairy/business innovation programs at Fresno State, Oregon State University, Washington State University, Chico State, Chapman University, Cal Poly-Humboldt, Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, UC Davis, and the California Dairy Innovation Center.
Entering into or expanding co-packing capabilities to help other small businesses grow their production capabilities. Note: there is a supplemental application form for co-packers that needs to be submitted along with your primary application, workplan, and budget.

Eligible Projects
ELIGIBLE projects that modernize, specialize, expand, investigate and/or market the use of regionally produced milk to higher-value products, including projects to improve or add value chain and commodity innovation and/or facility process updates for dairy processors and to improve or add dairy product development, packaging, and marketing.

Value chain and commodity innovation and facility process updates for dairy processors.
Dairy product development, packaging, and marketing.

Eligibility Criteria
Applicants must operate (or endeavor to operate) a dairy farm or dairy processing plant in Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, and/or Washington and propose a project that meets at least one of the nine PCC-DBII goals.
For more information, visit Pacific Coast Coalition.