The grants are the first in the $1.8 million DBII award from the USDA.
The California Dairy Innovation Center (CDIC) announced six California winners of Dairy Business Innovation Initiative grants by the Pacific Coast Coalition, the USDA-funded Initiative hosted by Fresno State University supporting dairy product, process and packaging innovation. The winners include Capstone Ranch/Wonder Cow (Madera County), Central Coast Creamery (San Luis Obispo County), Foggy Bottom Boys (Humboldt County), Schoch Family Farmstead (Monterey County) and Weststeyn Dairy Farm (Glenn County).
The grants are the first in the $1.8 million DBII award from the USDA that created the Pacific Coast Coalition to support dairy businesses in California, Oregon and Washington in the development, production, marketing, and distribution of dairy products. These are supplemented by additional phases of funding (2022-2025) totaling over $20 million announced in November by USDA. A second round of funding, which will award around $4 million in grants from $50k to $1 million, will be announced this month.