The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), requests applications for fiscal year (FY) 2026 from existing initiatives of the Dairy Business Innovation (DBI) Initiatives Program: the California State University Fresno Foundation, the University of Tennessee, the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets, and the University of Wisconsin.
These initiatives serve to:

• Diversify dairy product markets to reduce risk and develop higher value uses for dairy products;
• Promote business development that diversifies farmer income through processing and marketing innovation; and
• Encourage the use of regional milk production.

Approximately $12.65 million is available to fund these initiatives. In the FY 2025 application cycle, AMS funded four applications from the existing initiatives awarding a total of $11,040,000.
AMS strongly encourages DBI initiatives to prioritize subaward funding for projects that request equipment and infrastructure activities in their proposals for these FY2026 funds. See the DBI Specific Terms and Conditions for guidance on allowable equipment and construction costs. Equipment and infrastructure investments are critical to strengthening the dairy industry and overall dairy businesses capacity and DBI is currently uniquely positioned to offer such targeted funding opportunities.