Pocan, Welch Lead 16 Members Urging Ag Sec. Rollins to Reissue Dairy Business Funding Opportunity

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Representative Mark Pocan (WI-02) and U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-VT) led a letter signed by 16 Members of Congress to Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, urging her to withdraw the newly added 25% cost-share requirement for the Dairy Business Innovation (DBI) Initiatives program and reissue the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) without a matching requirement.

The DBI Initiatives program was established by Congress as part of the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 to promote innovation in the dairy industry. It has retained strong bipartisan support ever since. The original law did not require recipients to match federal funding and this burdensome change comes when dairy farmers and businesses are already struggling as a result of volatility in markets and increases in costs.

"Today, the four existing initiatives serve dairy farmers and processors in 41 states and territories, representing 87 percent of the nation's milkshed," the Members wrote. "They are the Dairy Business Innovation Alliance at the University of Wisconsin, the Northeast Dairy Business Innovation Center at the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets, the Pacific Coast Coalition at California State University, Fresno, and the Southeast Dairy Business Innovation Initiative at the University of Tennessee. Together they have awarded more than $106 million to 911 dairy businesses. Even so, they have been able to meet only about 35 percent of the demand they see through their competitive award processes. By law, at least half of each initiative's funding must go directly to grants to dairy businesses. The remainder supports technical assistance in business planning, marketing, and product development."

"The need for this support has never been greater," the Members continued. "Dairy farmers and processors are facing volatile markets, higher production and fuel costs, labor shortages, aging infrastructure, and growing competition. Small and mid-sized operations in particular depend on DBI to modernize equipment, develop new products, reach new markets, and keep viable outlets for farmers' milk. DBI works because it puts federal resources in the hands of regional partners with deep technical expertise and long-standing relationships with the dairy businesses they serve."

"The organizations that host these initiatives are public universities and a state department of agriculture, working in partnership with a nonprofit trade association. They do not profit from DBI funding, and they generally do not have unrestricted resources to cover a 25 percent match," the Members concluded. "The initiatives have told USDA that the new requirement could make continued operation of the program untenable. A requirement meant to stretch federal dollars could instead keep those dollars from reaching the farms and processors Congress intended to help."

A digital copy of the letter can be found here.

The full list of signers includes: Reps. Mark Pocan (WI-02), Becca Balint (VT-At Large), Salud Carbajal (CA-24), Jim Costa (CA-21), Joe Courtney (CT-02), Maggie Goodlander (NH-02), John Mannion (NY-02), Gwen Moore (WI-04), Chellie Pingree (ME-01), Gabe Vasquez (NM-02), Sens. Peter Welch (D-VT), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Adam Schiff (D-CA).