The dairy business innovation alliance (dbia), established in 2019, is a partnership between the center for dairy research (CDR) and the wisconsin cheese makers association (wcma)

The Dairy Business Innovation Alliance (DBIA) was awarded a $7,053,333 Project Grant from the US Department of Agriculture Agricultural Marketing Service under the Dairy Business Innovation Initiatives federal grant program. The DBIA, a partnership between the Center for Dairy Research and Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association, will provide assistance to dairy processors in adding value to their milk and increase support for selected companies to develop and grow their businesses. This will be accomplished over three years beginning September 2022 through goals that include expanding the scope of grants and technical assistance across marketing, financial planning, and technical expertise. The University of Wisconsin System is the prime awardee and will work with the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association as a sub-awardee, who will help prepare grant materials, advertise opportunities, and collect information from recipients.

Together with regional collaborators across eleven states (WI, MN, IA, SD, IL, MI, in, KS, NE, MO and OH), the dbia provides access to expertise and resources and insights to support dairy business innovation. The dbia 2022 proposal expands the scope of the previous programs to create a sustainable, reproducible model that promotes business innovation within the dairy industry. This 2022 application with the theme of expansion continues to build upon the previous grant infrastructures and complete a pipeline of efforts designed to enable dairy farmers processors get their ideas off the ground, into the market, and grow their business. This will be achieved via the following goals goal 1 provide assistance to dairy processors in their efforts to add value to their milk. Goal 2 increase the support for our select dbia cohort of companies in the developmentand growth of their business efforts by expanding the scope of grants and technical assistance across marketing, financial planning, and technical expertise. Goal 3 address industry issues with a range of dedicated, time limited projects whoseobjectives are aligned with the dbii and whose results will be shared. The time frame for this program will be three years beginning 4TH quarter 2022.the dbia will continue to work with regional and national collaborators as IT develops its programs with the potential for scalable application across the country.