Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** across the U.S., small dairy…

Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** across the U.S., small dairy farms are failing at staggering rates. Current education and extension/outreach programs are focused on large producers and processors, leaving small farmers without tools to help them to adjust their operations, product offerings, and market strategies to capitalize on today's markets. To support creation of new educational and technical assistance programs, the atlantic corporation (atlantic) will conduct a comprehensive B2B survey of small dairy farms, pair the results with other available data, and create an interactive data dashboard capturing farm demographics, how they'RE operating, whether they'RE profitable, and their future plans. Analyzed regionally, these data will uncover success factors and help develop strategies that can be incorporated into tailored programming. This application is submitted in response to program area 6A small and medium-sized farms and directly addresses several of the program priorities. This project will result in findings on which to base development of education and extension/outreach tailored to small dairy farms, who have been underserved since the recent wave of industry consolidation (priority focus b). The survey will capture the impacts of covid-19 and identify new markets and changing demand (priority focus c). The project's resulting tools, including the interactive data dashboard, will assist small dairy farmers in making decisions on production contracts (priority focus i). Finally, this project seeks to understand the specific factors that prevent small dairy farms from remaining profitable and sustainable, including social/societal factors such as farm family dynamics and succession (priority focus m).