The Southeast Dairy Business Innovation Initiative (SDBII), with support from USDA AMS, offers grants to dairy businesses in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Puerto Rico. The program provides grant awards to revitalize and spur innovation in the dairy industry across the Southeast. The Dairy Industry Impact Grant provides reimbursement funds to permitted dairy businesses located in the Southeast who are seeking funds to undertake a project that will have far reaching direct impacts for many other dairy industry stakeholders.
If you are interested in applying for an award through the Dairy Industry Impact Grant program, you may submit a letter of intent and application. Applicants to this targeted funding program may apply for up to $500,000.00 to defray the costs of a project that will meet SDBII’s goals to a) diversify dairy product markets to reduce risk and develop higher value uses for dairy products; b) promote business development that diversifies farmer income through processing and marketing innovation; and/or c) encourage the use of regional milk supply. Your application should include the letter of intent you submitted previously that describes your project and how it will accomplish one or more of these goals, a budget outlining the expected costs of the project, quotes to support the budget costs, and an explanation of where funding for project items not funded from the grant will come from.
The first step of the Dairy Industry Impact Grant Process is submitting a Letter of Intent (LOI). The letter of intent will not be binding in itself. However, should the project outlined in the LOI be funded, the LOI and accompanying budget and other grant materials will be used to draft a contract between the applicant and The University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture. The active period of the grant contract will be 12-months. After the LOI submission due date, internal SDBII personnel will review the submitted materials and select individuals will then be invited to provide a full proposal to be considered for funding.
The Budget Form, Application Scoring Rubric, Allowable Cost List from the USDA are all available below.
Grant Workbook Components
Those considering applying for an SDBII grant should start the process of obtaining a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) as soon as possible. Award recipients will be required to provide a UEI before the grant contract can be executed. Wait times are currently several weeks long. Register at SAM.GOV
Program Contacts
Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, & Puerto Rico
Shep Stearns, Ansley Roper, & Liz Eckelkamp: sdbiigrants@utk.edu
Kentucky, Arkansas, Virginia, & West Virginia
Tori Embry: tembry@kydairy.org
North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, & Mississippi
Brittany Whitmire & Stephanie Ward: ncdairyextension@ncsu.edu
Application Portal
Register for an SDBII applicant profile and apply HERE.