Dairy farms are essential to the U.S. Food system and to rural communities, but they are facing serious labor and financial pressures

The Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture awarded $728,000 to the University of California, Davis on August 1, 2026, under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI, CFDA 10.310) to conduct research on the adoption and financial implications of automated milking systems for U.S. dairy farms.

The research will gather data directly from dairy farmers through focus groups, surveys, farm visits, and case studies, comparing farms using robotic milking systems with farms using conventional milking systems. The analysis will examine labor needs, costs, milk production, management practices, animal well-being, energy and resource use, and overall financial performance. The project will focus primarily on dairy farmers in California, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Texas while drawing practical lessons from New Zealand and selected European dairy regions where dairy automation has been studied or deployed. The research team will develop a financial decision-support tool enabling farmers to input information about their operations and compare expected financial outcomes of adopting automated milking systems against continuing their current milking approach. Results will be disseminated through workshops, webinars, podcasts, extension reports, tutorials, and conference presentations.

Performance takes place in Davis, California. The period of performance runs from August 1, 2026 through July 31, 2029.

Many farms struggle to find and retain workers while wages and input costs continue to rise. Automated milking systems (AMS), often called milking robots, may help some farms reduce labor needs, improve management flexibility, and collect better COW-level information. However, these systems require major investments in equipment, barn infrastructure, maintenance, training, and management changes. For many producers, IT is unclear whether AMS will improve profitability or create additional financial risk. This project addresses that uncertainty by studying when robotic milking and related automation technologies may be a practical option for U.S. Dairy farms. The project is important not only for dairy producers, but also for rural economies, workers, consumers, and communities that depend on a stable and resilient dairy sector. The project will gather information directly from dairy farmers through focus groups, surveys, farm visits, and case studies. The research team will compare farms that use AMS with farms that continue to use conventional milking systems, paying attention to labor needs, costs, milk production, management practices, animal well-being, energy and resource use, and overall financial performance. The project will focus primarily on U.S. Dairy farmers in california, wisconsin, minnesota, and texas, while also drawing practical lessons from new zealand and selected european dairy regions where dairy automation has been studied or used. The information collected will be used to build a financial decision-support tool that allows farmers to enter information about their own operation and compare the expected financial results of adopting AMS with continuing their current milking system. Results will be shared through workshops, webinars, podcasts, extension reports, tutorials, conference presentations, and a public project website, with outreach materials available in english and spanish. The long-term goal of this project is to help U.S. Dairy farmers make better-informed investment decisions about automation. The project does not assume that robotic milking is the right choice for every farm. Instead, IT will help identify the farm conditions under which AMS or related automation technologies may be financially feasible, and the conditions under which they may not be advisable. If successful, the project will give farmers, advisors, lenders, extension personnel, and policymakers clearer information about the costs, benefits, and risks of dairy automation. These results can support stronger farm planning, better use of labor-saving technologies, improved extension guidance, and greater resilience in the U.S. Dairy sector. Ultimately, the project aims to help dairy farms remain competitive while supporting rural communities, agricultural jobs, animal well-being, and the continued availability of dair, y products for U.S. Consumers.