Visioning the Future of Dairy: 13 Key Insights and Themes from the 2026 Northeast Dairy Innovation Summit

Feedback in this area focused on new types of funding opportunities, tailoring existing grants, and increasing funding available.

• New grant opportunities included:
  • Opportunities for other parts of the supply chain including milk haulers and uses of dairy by-products.
  • Funds to convene peer groups by grants focus area, opportunities for regional visits for farmers and processors to learn from each other and build relationships, and pre-competitive cohorts.
  • Succession, legal, tax, and sustainability planning grants.
  • Providing funds specifically to resource deficit areas of the region.
• Tailoring existing grants included:
  • Keeping equipment grants, milk handling and storage grants, modernization funds.
  • Adding milk quality improvements and audits into existing eligibility for current farm and processor grants.
  • Funds that are scaled for small and medium sized businesses.
  • Expanding opportunities for grazing system improvements.
• Increasing funding:
  • There were a number of comments around increasing the NE-DBIC’s funding to be able to make more grants per round or providing more funds for grants generally.
• Next steps:
  • The NE-DBIC team will review existing grant opportunities to see how additional types of projects could be supported while keeping our focus on cornerstone farm and processor modernization grants.
  • Increased funding can only be provided by Congress and the NE-DBIC team is restricted from lobbying activities. Individuals, producer associations, and others who value the work of the NE-DBIC are welcome to reach out to their Congress people to request an increase in funding available.

Ideas in this area focused on the northeast region can improve cross-state collaboration, development, and support:

• Increasing opportunities for small and start up business was a theme that included focus on milk hauling improvements, communal cave space with again support, communal and regionally dispersed freezer and cold storage space, and engagement with food hubs to move products and offer support. Systems planning with co-ops to increase and ensure access to milk for smaller processors also emerged.
• Collaboration across the region came through as a primary goal, including how universities approach grants and research, where processing is located in relation to farms, how small to mid-scale processors will be able to access milk as there is increased processor demand in the southern part of the region, and how the sector can speak with one voice on key issues like immigration and community building.
• Next Steps:
  • The NE-DBIC is engaging with food hubs from across the region to better understand and support increasing how they can work with dairy producers.
  • The NE-DBIC and regional partners can convene conversations on what the future of regional dairy looks like, what investments and supports are needed to reach that goal, and how businesses can be viable in an environment of slim profit margins and overlapping operational pressures. The theme of the region working together to reach common goals and develop a unified vision came through clearly.

This focus area was centered on opportunities to provide education, professional development, and opportunities for people who are already employed in the dairy sector.

• Feedback was focused on one of three areas:
  • Availability of labor, hiring, immigration, and housing – finding and keeping the existing workforce is critical to current operations but continue to be impacted by external forces like lack of comprehensive immigration reform, availability of housing, and competition from other sectors.
  • Training – existing employees need training on the use of generative AI, robotics, and new systems improvements. Providing opportunities for staff to see and engage with the bigger picture of dairy will help them better understand specific improvement goals on their operation. Accessibility of training programs is a barrier for many.
  • Manager and leadership training was noted as a gap, particularly for mid-level managers and for Spanish speakers.
• Next Steps:
  • The NE-DBIC will be convening a learning group for current workforce grantees and others engaged in workforce development across the region to share best practices, find opportunities for collaboration, and further strengthen regional connections for training.

Many Summit attendees were grant recipients, grant applicants, or supportive of grant projects and were able to offer specific feedback on how the NE-DBIC can refine its grant making process:

• Offering a pre-screen, pre-application, or other initial review before the full application was broadly supported across different program areas.
• Application support including advice on strong metrics, putting critical application information in the front of the Request for Applications (such as estimated time to complete and required match amounts), and simplifying farmer applications were all noted.
• Applications should include tiered approaches based on business scale, inclusion of a return on investment timeline for the project, sharing or outreach requirements, and the opportunity to discuss if there are other funds available.
• Next Steps:
  • The NE-DBIC will begin offering two stage applications for core programs in 2026, starting with a pre-application with a subset of those asked to submit the full application.
  • The NE-DBIC team will review other suggestions and work to improve grant making procedures and communications.

Farm viability is contingent on many factors working together to support individual businesses and the broader farming community. Feedback in this area was broad but generally focused beyond specific practices.

• Attendees seek opportunities to learn about new practices and work together with their peers to define sustainability, engage across the farming ecosystem, support milk quality improvements, and find ways to adopt heat mitigation and feed production strategies that are focused on climate resilience.
• There were a number of specific suggestions including: addressing the shortage of dairy vets, supporting more small ruminant education, focusing on the loss of small farms and decreasing buyer competition, and education around how to be successful in adopting direct to consumer sales.
• Next Steps:
  • The NE-DBIC will collaborate with organizations who can offer educational opportunities to find ways to increase their availability and accessibility.

The need to develop the next generation while also supporting new workers who did not grow up in a farm family or with access to agriculture is an acute issue across the region, with participants offering a number of ideas to support increased engagement:

• Increasing options for new entrant workforce development was a key theme and included: connecting older generations with new/young workers, increasing training options, topics, and accessibility, and the development of a pipeline or pathway for growth across the range of dairy careers.
• Existing programs such as FFA, 4-H, middle and high school agricultural programs, and university-based programs were seen as a foundational component of new worker engagement, opening programs to younger individuals.
• The idea of a regional value-added training center (which was launched at the Summit) received support in connection with more university-based opportunities for processor training.
• Next Steps:
  • The NE-DBIC continues to fund workforce development projects across the region, some that focus on individuals without an agricultural background.
  • The NE-DBIC is developing the launch committee for the regional value-added training center which will begin meeting in mid-2026

Processors are key to moving milk from farms to consumers and the northeast region has processors at every scale with varying needs. Three main themes emerged – education and training, access to milk, and building relationships through the supply chain.

• Education and training needs include supported product research and development, consumer tasting, product evaluation, product competition and judging, access to sensory professionals, understanding and responding to consumer trends, and an option for regional cheesemaker certification.
• Access to milk focused on the changing structure of milk markets in the northeast and ensuring that small to medium scaled processors have access to milk that meets their production goals, either through co-ops or other milk buyers or directly from farms.
• Processors rely on distributors and retailers to sell their products and the desire to strengthen those relationships was noted.
• Next Steps:
  • The NE-DBIC supported regional value-added training center is a direct response to these concerns and will be designed to support the noted educational goals.
  • Additional regional conversations regarding access to milk and strengthening supply chain relationships will be facilitated by the NE-DBIC and regional partners.

As the average age of dairy farmers rises, the conversations around succession planning become more pressing.  The assumption for many has been that family will take over the business, but as noted earlier in the new workforce development and training section, finding young/beginning farmers interested in taking over the operation is another approach.

• Participants noted that there is a current need to protect the existing knowledge base while also adapting to new generations. This will need planning and implementation support to provide a clear pathway for farm transitions. In some cases, whole enterprise transitions need to be planned across different business units, not just a singular entity as most considerations of succession planning are framed. Additionally, smaller dairy states in the region should connect in a targeted and intentional way with larger dairy states to identify individuals ready to take over a farm and make those connections.
• Next Steps:
  • The NE-DBIC can convene succession conversations with regional partners to understand the landscape, where there are gaps, and opportunities for new approaches. Many states are working on succession planning with the support of business advisors, and it could be helpful to bring these conversations together for shared learning.

One topic that the NE-DBIC team hears frequently during site visits and that came up at the Summit was the idea of an accessible resource list for regional farmers and processors to utilize.

This could include lists of people who are service providers, installers, and equipment supplies. It could also be a place to find used equipment and share information.

• Next Steps:
  • As part of the Value-Added Training Center, a resource list for processors will be developed. This work is in the early stages.
  • A farm-based resource list could be facilitated by one of the regional nonprofits that provide business support services or another organization in support of dairy farms.

Summit participants were interested in opportunities to engage in marketing dairy production and products.

This included how to access and understand emerging markets and consumer trends, translating current practices into selling points, and ways to educate the general public.

• Next Steps:
  • The region is supported by several check-off funded organizations who can provide this type of support and education.
  • The NE-DBIC has a dairy marketing and branding toolkit available for free to the public.

Financing a business, whether it is a start up or established, farm production or processing, can be daunting. Summit attendees spoke about the need for additional financing and learning how to access it in two broad categories:

• Access to financing – traditional and otherwise – came across as the primary focus point. Low interest loans, tax credits, and grants were all identified as funding mechanisms. However, participants noted that funds are more limited in some parts of the supply chain like milk hauling or for projects that do not vastly increase herd size or lead to impressive facility updates.
• Education on accessing financing and appropriate types of financing for the desired project was also noted as a need. Learning how to apply for grants, where to go for loans, and how to think about a project in terms of finance needs were identified as areas of need.
• Next Steps:
  • Regionally, business and technical service providers can provide support for dairy businesses in understanding financing and their options.
  • If a resource list were to be developed, financial institutions and lending or grant opportunities could be listed.

• As states adopt new regulations in farming and packaging, Summit attendees felt that having a better understanding of how their business will be impacted would be beneficial to allow for compliance ahead of the change. Topics include how to manage regulations across multiple states, upcoming packaging and PFAS changes impacting parts of the region, and how to work with regulators who may not have a dairy background.
• Next Steps:
  • Based on multi-state differences and upcoming regulation changes, this is an area the NE-DBIC team will stay attuned to and find opportunities for sharing out additional information.

• Packaging improvements is an area the NE-DBIC has invested in and frequently arises when discussing consumer trends. Summit attendees were interested in learning more about sustainability and recyclability components of packaging and what options were available for their specific products. Additionally, processors are seeking to better understand consumer response to different types of packaging and what might be available that is made in the US.
• Next Steps:
  • The NE-DBIC Value-Added Training Center will have some education around packaging.