Grants / Department of Agriculture / Agricultural Marketing Service

Dairy Business Innovation Initiatives Program (DBI) Fiscal Year 2026

Open Closes December 1, 2026 (31 days left) Opportunity USDA-AMS-TM-DBI-G-26-0011

• Award ceiling$3.5 million
• Award floor$2.3 million
• Expected awards4
• Total funding$12.7 million
• Cost sharingRequired
• Funding typeGrant

Key dates

Add the deadline to your calendar

Who can apply

This opportunity is open to the applicants described in the notice.

• Others (see text field entitled "Additional Information on Eligibility" for clarification)

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), requests applications for the fiscal year (FY) 2025 only from the existing four initiatives of the Dairy Business Innovation (DBI) Initiatives program: the California State University Fresno Foundation, the University of Tennessee, the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets, and the University of Wisconsin.

Is this a realistic fit?

• The notice requires cost sharing or matching funds, so you must contribute part of the project cost.

What the grant funds

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), requests applications for fiscal year (FY) 2026 from existing initiatives of the Dairy Business Innovation (DBI) Initiatives Program: the California State University Fresno Foundation, the University of Tennessee, the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets, and the University of Wisconsin. These initiatives serve to: • Diversify dairy product markets to reduce risk and develop higher value uses for dairy products; • Promote business development that diversifies farmer income through processing and marketing innovation; and • Encourage the use of regional milk production. Approximately $12.65 million is available to fund these initiatives. In the FY 2025 application cycle, AMS funded four applications from the existing initiatives awarding a total of $11,040,000. AMS strongly encourages DBI initiatives to prioritize subaward funding for projects that request equipment and infrastructure activities in their proposals for these FY2026 funds. See the DBI Specific Terms and Conditions for guidance on allowable equipment and construction costs. Equipment and infrastructure investments are critical to strengthening the dairy industry and overall dairy businesses capacity and DBI is currently uniquely positioned to offer such targeted funding opportunities.

Category: Agriculture.

How to apply

1. Read the full notice and attachments on Grants.gov and the agency's announcement. The notice is the official source for deadlines and requirements.
2. Make sure your organization has an active SAM.gov registration and Unique Entity ID; registration can take several weeks.
3. Register on Grants.gov and submit through Workspace before the deadline and time given in the notice. Our application guide walks through each step.

Questions go to Agricultural Marketing Service, IPPGrants@usda.gov, 202-260-8449.

Open the official notice