Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig enjoys ice cream from the Iowa State University Creamery. (Photo by Cami Koons/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
AMES — Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig announced 15 Iowa dairies Wednesday that were awarded a combined $750,000 in grants to expand production and save labor.
Naig made the announcement at the Iowa State University Creamery, which was one of the grant recipients and also the first member of the Choose Iowa network.
Choose Iowa is a state program, with the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, that promotes and markets local producers. Naig said membership has been gaining “about one member a day” since the start of the year.
“It shows a tremendous interest in local foods, of course, and also we love the fact that we get a chance to tell stories about Iowa’s agriculture and connect consumers to farm families across the state,” Naig said.
The dairy innovation grants required a cost share on behalf of the dairy operations and the 15 projects represent a total investment of more than $4 million, according to IDALS.
Eligible dairies have fewer than 50 employees and create products that are completely made in Iowa. Dairies were awarded up to $100,000 in funding for equipment that increased on-farm processing, like the creamery at ISU that will increase its cheese and ice cream production with a larger batch pasteurization vat, or for technology upgrades to reduce labor.
Labor-reducing technology that grant recipients will be introducing, or expanding, include milking robots, rotary parlors, feed pushers and manure collectors.
Naig said labor has always been a “huge challenge” for dairy producers.
“Feeding systems and robotic milkers are just amazing pieces of technology that can really take the pressure off of a farm family because there’s so many jobs to do,” Naig said. “That can literally mean the ability for a farm to continue to produce, because they’re able to bring that technology in.”
Robert Horst, the Iowa State Dairy Association president, said some of these innovations will cut the personnel needs by 50%.
Horst said the other grant that was awarded for a processing upgrade, $11,688 for a semi-automatic bottle filler and capper in Plainfield, is the type of project that not only grows a dairy operation, but brings people to town.
“That brings people out there and other things will pop up … maybe somebody has a vegetable stand or maybe there’s some on-farm tourism down the road,” Horst said. “It not only brings the money back into that community, but it draws people in.”
Sarah Canova, ISU creamery’s business manager, said the new vat purchased with the help of around $25,000 from the Choose Iowa grant, will allow the creamery to nearly triple its current production, which frequently sells out during the fall and summer months.
The creamery trains 25 undergraduate students a semester, which Horst said is where “a lot of the future begins” for Iowa dairy farmers.
“The more that they can get the hands on (experience) and engagement in the dairy and the processing here at the university, the better our chances are for the industry continuing at the pace and even growing,” Horst said.
Horst called the grants “seed money” for several dairies that he said will use the upgrades to facilitate a “transition to the next generation.”
Choose Iowa also allocated $750,000 in small dairy innovation grants last year, with 20 recipients.
Naig said there is a “tremendous amount of interest” in the Choose Iowa program, which makes him excited for the future.
Earlier this week IDALS informed partners that federal funding for programs supported local food purchases for schools, food banks and other institutions, which would have allocated an estimated $11.3 million to the state, had been terminated.
Naig said there was “no guarantee” the extended funding, authorized by USDA in October 2024, was going to remain through the change in administration. Naig said the programs brought forward a lot of good connections between producers and communities and he hopes there can be a permanent place for the programs, or something similar, in the upcoming farm bill.
“What we’re trying to do is look to the future,” Naig said. “We do have some programs here — they’re not nearly to the scale that they were funded by USDA — but we’re bringing … pilot programs at the state level. We continue to ask for assistance and investment (on) the part of the Legislature for these important programs.”
IDALS announced Monday a pilot program with $70,000 to allocate to school districts to purchase Choose Iowa products for school meals. Recipients for the program will be announced in April.
YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.