Dairy industry coalition urges USDA to reverse new funding requirement

A coalition of 28 organizations representing the dairy industry is urging U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins to reverse a new 25 percent cost-share requirement for the Dairy Business Innovation (DBI) Initiatives. The coalition warns that this requirement, introduced for the first time in the program's history, threatens the future of the initiative.

In a letter dated October 12, the group requested that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reissue its Fiscal Year 2026 funding opportunity without a required match and extend the December 1 application deadline by 60 days. This extension would allow applicants to assess the financial impact of the change while the USDA reviews the request.

The DBI Initiatives, established by the 2018 Farm Bill, support dairy businesses across 41 states by providing expertise to help develop products, improve operations, and pursue new markets. The coalition noted that the four existing initiatives—housed at public universities, a state department of agriculture, and a university-industry partnership—lack the resources to meet the new matching mandate.