Stepladder Farmstead Creamery, LLC

Stepladder Farmstead Creamery, LLC, doing business as Stepladder Farmstead Crea, is a self-certified small disadvantaged for-profit limited liability company located in Cambria, California, that specializes in value-added dairy product development and marketing. The company operates as a sole proprietorship and has built a track record of securing federal grant funding to support its agricultural initiatives and cooperative development efforts. Through its federal grant awards, Stepladder Farmstead Creamery has positioned itself as a key player in supporting small and mid-sized dairy producers while advancing rural economic development in California.

Stepladder Farmstead Creamery has received four significant federal grant awards totaling $750,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, with all funding administered through the Rural Business Cooperative Services or Agricultural Marketing Service. The company's most recent award, a $250,000 grant under the Farmers Market and Local Food Promotion Program (CFDA 10.175) dated September 2, 2025, supports the development of new dairy products and the expansion of direct and indirect producer-to-consumer marketing channels to enhance access to locally and regionally produced goods. A prior $250,000 Rural Cooperative Development Grant awarded on September 13, 2023, funded training and facilitation services provided by the creamery to beginning and socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers seeking to establish agricultural cooperatives. Additionally, the company received a $250,000 Value-Added Producer Grant in September 2022 under CFDA 10.352 to support value-added dairy product marketing and processing activities aimed at increasing income for dairy producers. Stepladder Farmstead Creamery also received COVID-19 relief funding through a grant awarded on January 3, 2022, which supported workplace safety measures, market pivots, facility retrofitting, and other costs incurred between January 27, 2020, and December 31, 2021. Across these awards, the company has demonstrated expertise in value-added agricultural product development, cooperative formation and technical assistance, local food system promotion, and rural economic resilience.