Recently announced, JB's Barnyard and Risin' Creek Creamerywere awarded funding from the Dairy Business Innovation Alliance (DBIA) for value added facilities to their farms.
JB's Barnyard, located near Evansville, was awarded $100,000 for ice cream machinery. JB's Barnyard produces 16% butterfat ice cream that is available for purchase from its mobile ice cream trucks, at a private event booking or at various wholesale locations. JB's Barnyard will use the funding to further develop its wholesale ice cream business by expanding its delivery capabilities. This project aims to increase production and sales, creating new jobs and expanding market reach.
"JB’s Barnyard is a dream of ours, and by receiving this funding from the Dairy Business Innovation Alliance we will be able to further expand our offerings to wholesale locations beyond our local region,” said Briley Simpkins of JB’s Barnyard. “We are excited to continue growing our business while providing our community with high quality, delicious ice cream.”
Risin' Creek Creamery, located in Martinsville, was awarded $49,206 for a fluid milk bottle filler to grow its goat milk processing and expand into drinkable yogurts. Risin’ Creek Creamery currently produces award-winning fresh Chèvre, a smooth classic spreadable goat cheese, goat milk feta, a goat milk caramel sauce and several hard cheeses. All of Risin' Creek Creamery's products are made from milk that is produced by its herd of Nubian goats.
“We are so honored to be the recipient of this very sought-after grant from DBIA,” said Tim Vanzant of Risin' Creek Creamery. “Our goat business started as a 4H project in 1984, but now has grown to encompass three generations of our family! We produce award-winning fresh goat cheeses, and we are excited to embark on a fluid goat milk and yogurt journey thanks to this grant funding.”
The Dairy Business Innovation Alliance, a partnership between the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association (WCMA) and the Center for Dairy Research (CDR), awarded 39 grants totaling more than $3.3 million to farmstead operations and dairy processing businesses across the Midwest. The Indiana State Department of Agriculture serves as the Indiana state collaborator. Since 2022, ten Indiana dairy businesses have been awarded more than $833,000 from DBIA to grow their operations.
The grants will be awarded through the DBIA’s Dairy Business Builder and Dairy Industry Impact grant programs. The Dairy Business Builder grant program is targeted at small-to-medium size farmers or processors. DBIA’s grant programs advance the organization’s mission to support small and mid-size dairy processors across its 11-state service area of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin.
“We are delighted to be able to assist the growth of our regional cheese plants and small dairy businesses; once again farmsteads were an important focus. We are also happy to help companies with their exports and sustainability challenges,“ said John Lucey, CDR Director.
The DBIA is supported by funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and was created in the 2018 federal Farm Bill. Since then, the DBIA has awarded over $20 million across more than 250 grants to Midwestern dairy farms and businesses. The program also offers technical assistance to dairy farmers and processors in participating states.