By Katie Spring, NE-DBIC Communications Manager
As 2025 comes to a close, we’re celebrating the impact of dairy funding over the past year.
NE-DBIC’s mission is to increase innovation and resiliency for regional dairy production – and this year that resiliency feels all the more important. Alongside the typical ups and downs of running a business, in 2025 dairy farmers and processors have navigated many challenges, including funding disruptions, a too-wet spring followed by a historic summer and fall drought, and more.
A word like “innovation” can feel far-fetched when you’re trying to keep everything simply moving forward. And yet farmers and food producers constantly employ flexibility, imagination, and persistence – and these all lead to innovation.
This year, the NE-DBIC team traveled around the region and saw how the Existing Dairy Processor Expansion Grant has helped grow the workforce and bring more regional dairy to store shelves. We visited farms benefitting from the Dairy Workforce Impact Fund, and saw how farms are modernizing to improve efficiency, milk quality, and quality of life.
We ate ice cream, sampled cheese, and appreciated the incredible work that dairy farmers and processors do every day to provide their communities and beyond with regionally produced food. And that’s something to celebrate.
Here’s a look at NE-DBIC funding by the numbers:
As of December 1, 2025, we’ve:
- Received $49.27* million for projects extending through 2027
- Awarded $41.4 million across 488 distinct projects
*Previously, we reported that we’d received $53 million. This was adjusted in July 2025, when the funding awarded for the Organic Dairy Product Promotion Grant was cancelled by the USDA. Congressionally approved funding through the Farm Bill remains, allowing our core grant programs to continue moving forward.
In Fiscal Year 2025, we awarded:
- 112 grants and contracts to dairy farmers, processors, and service providers
- $7,630,667.65 in total funding across 10 states
This funding has allowed dairy farmers and processors to invest in their businesses in meaningful ways. From installing new bulk tanks and milk pipelines to expanding processing capacity and improving marketing and branding, NE-DBIC grants support the dairy sector from farm to finished product.
Read about some of our grantees and their projects on our Grantee Spotlights.
Dig into the NE-DBIC funding impact on our Power BI Dashboard.
NE-DBIC is one of four Dairy Business Innovation Initiatives in the country. View the National DBII Impact Report.
Photos: Goats at Flying Goat Farm in Maine; Cheese from Kasbo’s Market of New Jersey; a Jersey cow at Harrison’s Homegrown in Vermont.
