Northeast Dairy Business Innovation Center

The Northeast Dairy Business Innovation Center (NE-DBIC) announces the availability of funds through the On-Farm Milk Storage & Handling Grant program, which will provide grants for dairy farmers to access funds that support the purchase of equipment and other related costs that will improve milk storage, handling, and energy efficiencies. The focus of this grant is on the purchase of specialized equipment. Applicants may select from a pre-approved list of eligible equipment. Projects funded by this grant will streamline milk pick up, create efficiencies around milk storage, and improve handling for both farmers and their processors. Successful applications will show reduced costs to the farmer and will improve efficiencies around the movement of milk, reduce frequency of milk pick up, and/or otherwise meet processors' needs for improved storage and handling.

Grants are available to applicants in all 11 Northeast states: Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

The Northeast Dairy Business Innovation Center (NE-DBIC) hosted at the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets (VAAFM), seeks multiple contractors across the Northeast region to develop, organize, and implement educational opportunities for dairy farmers. Contractors will develop events, webinars, educational series, and/or conferences to increase farmer-focused production and business viability education.

As part of a larger effort sponsored by the Northeast Dairy Business Innovation Center (NE-DBIC) and the Vermont Agency of Agriculture Food and Markets (VAAFM), The Good People Research Company was contracted to study the marketing and branding of dairy producers and consumers in the northeast to learn how best to assist small dairy producers in their efforts to brand their companies successfully.

In this Toolkit, we will walk you through this process of exploring and identifying the story you will want to tell in the marketplace, and suggestions for how to tell that story, as well as how to get your products in front of consumers and popularize them most effectively.

These 12 case studies that describe how select dairy processors in the northeast United States approach the task of marketing and branding their products. They are presented as a reference for other dairies that may be evaluating their own marketing and branding or planning to make changes in these areas. Mainly, they are provided so that the owners of smaller dairy processing businesses can have a reference for how others market and brand effectively, and decide how, if at all, they can apply the lessons to their own businesses.