By Katie Spring, Outreach & Content Specialist at NE-DBIC
The Northeast Dairy Business Innovation Center (NE-DBIC), hosted at the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets, provides support to dairy businesses through projects that promote the development, production, marketing, and distribution of dairy products.
The Northeast Dairy Business Innovation Center is pleased to announce seven recipients of the Dairy Food Safety & Certification Grant.
Awards range from $16,000 - $40,000, with a total of $225,000 in overall funding, and allow dairy farmers and processors to take actionable steps to improve the safety of dairy products and improve marketability. These grant projects include installing pasteurizers, milk meters, and making creamery upgrades.
Cosmic Goat Farm and Creamery of Maine will purchase and install a cheese vat-pasteurizer, which will allow them to increase product quality, reduce labor inefficiency, and market their goat and mixed-milk dairy products across state lines.
Diamond Farms of Pennsylvania will replace their milk meters with new models that are more easily cleanable and include technology to detect somatic cells and blood in the milk, allowing them to increase the safety and quality of their milk and receive additional quality premiums.
Maplebrook Farm of Vermont will purchase and install upgrades to their pasteurizer and a butter extruder, which will allow them to process and market buttermilk derived from their butter making process, while simultaneously removing barriers to food safety and increasing labor efficiency.
Mansfield Creamery of Vermont will purchase a portable bulk tank, a stationary bulk tank, and milk pump to replace the milk cans they currently use to transport milk from their farm to their creamery, which will remove barriers to food safety, increase labor efficiency, and allow for increased production.
North Country Creamery of New York will make upgrades to their creamery, including wall and ceiling covers, new doors, a new ventilation system, and a hot water buffer tank which will reduce barriers to sanitation, increase product quality, and improve labor efficiency.
Springdale Farm Creamery of Maine will purchase and install upgrades to their vat-pasteurizer, including a chart recorder, temperature probes, hot water circulator, a wash system, and a vat platform, which will allow them to remove barriers to food safety, increase efficiency, and increase production.
Von Trapp Farmstead of Vermont will purchase new cheese moulds and complete a cleaning validation study on the moulds to remove barriers to food safety, increase employee safety and product quality, and refine their food safety plan.
The Dairy Food Safety & Certification Grant is expected to open again in December.