Each year, the Southeast Value-Added Dairy Conference (SEVAD) provides educational and networking opportunities for dairy business owners, researchers, Extension professionals, and industry partners. Since it began in 2020, SEVAD has engaged hundreds of dairy industry stakeholders with conference sessions and tours offering actionable information designed to maximize enterprise savings and new revenue.
2026 Conference
Southeast Value-Added Dairy Conference
THE 2026 CONFERENCE WILL BE RETURNING TO
KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE!
July 29-31, 2026
Register Here!
Dairy Business Personnel Based in the Southeast Can Apply for a Scholarship Here
Hotel Block Information Coming Soon
Sponsorship Opportunities Available Here
Topics Including
- Dairy market and small ruminant market trends
- Specialty cheese production and sensory evaluation
- Ice cream production, formulation, and sensory testing
- Farm diversification and direct-to-consumer marketing (farmers markets)
- Business and financial benchmarking tools for dairy producers
- Small ruminant management (housing, fencing, and grazing)
- Value-added dairy product development and entrepreneurship
- Branding and marketing strategies for small-scale producers
- Mentorship and internship programs in the dairy industry
Pick One of Two Pre-Conference Workshops (July 29th)
Ice Cream Hands-On Workshop: Learning the Craft from Carpigiani’s Ice Cream Experts: Take your seasonal offerings from concept to cone in this immersive, four-hour hands-on workshop led by expert instructors from Carpigiani, the world’s foremost authority in gelato and ice cream equipment and craftsmanship.
Building on the collaborative spirit of The Ice Cream Series, this in-person session brings the flavor development process to life in a working production environment. Participants will move through the full arc of ice cream making, from seasonal ingredient selection and flavor profiling to formulation, balancing, and finished product, guided step by step by instructors with deep technical expertise and real-world production experience.
Cheese Workshop: Building an Ag-Tourism Experience with Vaca Negra: Learn how to turn your dairy operation into a destination in this three-hour workshop led by Wanda Otero at Vaca Negra, the agrotourism creamery that has captivated visitors and locals alike from their facility in Hatillo, Puerto Rico.
Working through a live demonstration of a fresh cheese that participants will finish the same day, the session explores how to structure a visitor experience from arrival to product, how to connect guests emotionally to the farm and the milk, and how to design activities that are accessible and memorable for people with no dairy background whatsoever.
This session is designed for dairy farmers, extension professionals, and rural entrepreneurs interested in adding value-added programming to their operation, this workshop offers a tested, replicable model from a team that has already done the hard work of figuring out what works.
Optional Plant Visit to BroadAcre Dairy (Weigel’s)
You are invited to tour Broadacre Dairy, the milk processing plant behind Weigel’s dairy products, on Friday, July 31 at 2:00 PM. Broadacre has a rich history. It was the first dairy in East Tennessee to distribute pasteurized milk and continues to operate with a farm-to-jug process completed within 24 hours. The original Broadacre barn, built in the dairy’s earliest days, still stands and remains in use today, serving as a tangible link to nearly a century of dairy heritage. For more on Weigel’s dairy story, visit Weigel’s Dairy: A 95-Year-Old Story.
This tour offers a firsthand look at the processing facility and the operational standards that have defined Weigel’s dairy program for generations. Guests will have the opportunity to learn about the company’s history of innovation, from early advances in pasteurization to today’s expanding lineup of specialty milk flavors.
Past Conferences
Conference Agenda
