KNOXVILLE,
Tenn. — The University of Tennessee Center for Profitable Agriculture and
Department of Animal Science are combining their expertise with experts from
Kentucky and North Carolina to enhance the success of regional dairy
businesses. The team, led by Liz Eckelkamp, the UT Extension dairy specialist,
and Hal Pepper, a CPA financial specialist, has been awarded a $6 million grant
from USDA Agricultural Marketing Service as part of the agency’s Diversifying
Income and Adding Value by Manufacturing Dairy Products-Phase 2 efforts.
Eckelkamp and Pepper were selected in October 2019 to lead the USDA-sponsored
Tennessee Dairy Innovation effort to help Tennessee producers develop innovative dairy products, and this award is an
extension of that work.
The new project will provide educational
opportunities to help participants manage financial risk by evaluating
opportunities to develop and market value-added products. Producers wanting to
start or expand a dairy business in Tennessee, Kentucky, or North Carolina are
the intended audience for services that include enterprise assessments, direct
marketing workshops, business feasibility studies and more.
“The region’s dairy industry has really struggled in recent years, and the
pandemic has led more consumers to look to local producers for food and dairy
products. These producers want to better understand their costs so they will
know whether developing creative products and fresh marketing ideas will
improve their viability,” says Pepper. Eckelkamp, who works closely with
Tennessee’s dairy farmers, adds, “The goal of this project is to help our dairy
farmers understand the costs and potential benefits of starting a farmstead
creamery. Through this subaward grant, we can also help relieve some of the
financial burden that goes along with starting a new business.”
The three-year effort
is expected to help regional producers evaluate their potential for value-added
enterprises through these measured efforts:
• A benchmarking
project to collect data from 60 southeastern dairy farms to establish average
costs and efficiency measures and workshops to teach producers how to interpret
and use the benchmark measures.
• Value-added
enterprise assessments that will describe the current state of value-added
dairy processors and serve as a baseline for future farm support efforts.
• Providing an annual
value-added dairy conference for the duration of the project.
• Conducting a survey
of Southeastern U.S. farmstead creameries.
The project is also expected to produce a number of educational materials
including:
• A MarketReady
curriculum developed by University of Kentucky for value-added dairy producers
who want to wholesale dairy products and numerous workshops on topics such as
direct marketing, business management, processing and production.
• State-specific
education modules for Tennessee, Kentucky and North Carolina on regulatory,
permitting and retail and wholesale marketing to be added to an existing course
developed by Pennsylvania State University Extension, Introduction to
Value-Added Dairy.
• Fact sheets and publications to aid dairy
producers in making decisions about whether to add or expand a value-added
dairy business.
Eckelkamp says producers may find the
establishment of a regional value-added dairy processing web page and
discussion group among the most valuable outcomes. “The web page and discussion
group will be a community of practice for people and organizations helping
small dairy processors thrive by access to a shared wealth of information and
innovation. In our new virtual world, our web page can help dairy farmers
across the country by connecting them with resources, potential costs, and
access to the results from our creamery surveys.” She also says half the budget
from this grant is earmarked to support local dairy businesses directly through
competitive subawards. These subawards can be used for feasibility studies,
marketing studies, processing trainings and to purchase dairy processing
equipment.
Eckelkamp and Pepper will partner with Tim
Woods and Jerry Pierce of the University of Kentucky, H. H. Barlow with the
Kentucky Development Council, and Stephanie Ward with North Carolina
State University, as well as other dairy industry supporters.
Rob Holland, director of the UT Center for
Profitable Agriculture who is also currently serving as interim assistant dean
of UT Extension, says the UT Institute of Agriculture is pleased to take the
lead on this regional effort. “UT is well suited to lead this effort. For
several years the Center for Profitable Agriculture has been working with
Tennessee and regional producers to establish value-added businesses and
products as a means to enhance farm income. Applying that expertise to the
dairy industry is a win-win for everyone.”
“The UT Department of Animal Science is committed to helping producers enhance
the profitability of their operations,” says Neal Schrick, professor and
department head. “Dr. Eckelkamp’s knowledge of the dairy industry and of
producer practices should help this effort provide much needed support as
producers explore the value of adding an on-farm creamery to their business
models.”
Through
its land-grant mission of research, teaching and extension, the University of
Tennessee Institute of Agriculture touches lives and provides Real. Life.
Solutions. utia.tennessee.edu.
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Contact:
Patricia McDaniels, UTIA Marketing and
Communications, 615-835-4570, pmcdaniels@tennessee.edu