Dairy Business Innovation Initiatives Non-competitive Application

Background
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), requests applications for the fiscal year (FY) 2021 from existing initiatives of the Dairy Business Innovation (DBI) Initiatives program. 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 $18.4 million is available in FY 2021 to fund applications under this solicitation. Initiatives are expected to perform projects from FY 2021 through FY 2024 and submit a non-competing application for each FY the DBI Initiatives are appropriated funds during this tenure.

Grant Details
Initiatives provide direct technical assistance and make sub-grants to dairy businesses. They must also build on previous efforts to engage existing dairy industry resources, including dairy farm density and suitability, as well as activities conducted by dairy promotion and research programs, research organizations, dairy businesses, or academic or industry stakeholders. Initiatives may serve a certain product niche, such as specialty cheese, or serve dairy businesses with dairy products derived from the milk of a specific type of dairy animal, including dairy products made from cow milk, sheep milk, and goat milk.

Eligibility Requirements
Eligible applicants are current initiatives at: The University of Tennessee, The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets, and The University of Wisconsin. These initiatives were competitively selected in FY 2019 to fulfill the purpose of the program. An applicant may subcontract or subaward with partners and collaborators. Only the applicant must meet the eligibility requirements listed in this RFA.

Period of Performance
Projects must be completed within 3 years. The project period must begin no later than October 31, 2021, and end no later than October 30, 2024.

Grant Value
$18.4 million is available in FY 2021 to fund applications under this solicitation. Each initiative will be funded up to one-third of the available funding ($6,133,333.33).