Veronique Lagrange (California Dairy Innovation Center), Dr. Susan Pheasant (Fresno State), Carmen Licon Cano (FS), Gary Germaine (Leprino Foods)

 

$19 million grant extends dairy business innovation program led by Fresno State 

(July 8, 2022) - A team of Fresno State faculty, staff and students celebrated an additional $19 million in regional funding by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for Dairy Business Innovation Initiatives (DBI) that will benefit six,Western states.

The follow-up four-year grant is overseen by the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service and part of the American Rescue Plan to further support processing capacity expansion, on-farm improvements and technical assistance to dairy processors and producers. 

“The pandemic has demonstrated that dairy producers and regional dairy processors, particularly those engaged in value-added production, faced systemic shocks over the past several years,” said U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. “We have heard directly from producers and processors on how we can work with the industry to build long-term resilience of regional dairy supply chains. The Dairy Business Innovation Initiatives have supported regional-focused efforts tailored to the needs of dairy farmers and businesses locally.”

The program’s Pacific Coast Coalition (PCC) was created in October of 2021 thanks to an initial $1.8 million, three-year grant to support dairy product development, production, marketing and distribution in California, Oregon and Washington. The project equally aims to build resiliency for regional production and reduce market risk by encouraging product line diversification and the addition of higher-value and innovative new products. 

Jordan College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology assistant professor Dr. Carmen Licon Cano serves as the project director, thanks to her expertise in dairy product development, food engineering, and sensory evaluation. 

“This program is an important way to better connect the industry with resources available at higher education institutions,” Licon Cano said. “The program offers many venues to help producers enhance their product lines, packaging, marketing, branding, supply chain methods and workforce training programs. The combined expertise also develops multiple pathways to enhance training for students and the existing workforce within the dairy industry."

Dr. Susan Pheasant, director of the campus Institute for Food and Agriculture serves as the coordinator of the project. The campus creamery under the direction of Fresno State alumni Daniel Avila will add assistance and resources to the program’s local components.

Faculty from Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, Cal Poly Humboldt, Chico State, Chapman University, Cal Poly Humboldt, Oregon State University, UC Davis and Washington State University will share their dairy processing expertise offering technical assistance and work with industry members through outreach activities and events.

Veronique Lagrange, director of the California Dairy Innovation Center, serves as a project co-organizer and offers a direct link to the industry through the California Milk Advisory Board. 

Fresno State’s role as a program leader is obvious. California is the nation’s leading dairy processing state with over 40 million pounds of milk produced annually. County-wise, nearby Tulare County often ranks as the national leader with several other Central Valley counties also ranked top 10 nationally. 

The six-state PCC region, which includes California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada with the newly-awarded grant, accounts for nearly 30 percent of all milk produced within the United States. 

The second round of funding was announced on a July 7 visit by USDA Under Secretary Jennifer Lester Moffitt that included U.S. Representatives Connie Conway and Jim Costa and Fresno State President Dr. Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval. The government officials met Fresno State Food Science and Nutrition Department graduate students Daniel Olmos and Joanie Snow and learned about their innovative dairy product research projects in the Jordan Agricultural Research Center and its Olam Sensory Laboratory.

This summer, the initiative accepted its first round of applications for its innovation awards through August 30, 2022 for dairy processors & producers throughout California, Oregon, and Washington. A combined total $300,000 per year will be awarded for the next three years in increments of $50,000, $25,000 and $10,000.  This new round of funding will provide an additional $9.5 million over four years to dairy processors throughout Arizona, California, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. Awards are allowed up to $2.5 million per application per USDA AMS guidelines.

Applications will be tied to products and methods connected to value-added product development, product line expansion, and alternative processing technologies or sustainability enhancement methods that increase profitability. Innovation award grants are a key part of the program. 

Additional industry benefits will include technical assistance by participating universities and professional partners through workshops, short courses and webinars to foster innovation and best practices. Bilingual forms of training will improve the implementation by Spanish-speaking workers.

Students from Fresno State and other universities will also benefit through an internship program and research positions that will prepare them for future employment as they work directly with participating companies.

To better position Fresno State’s role at the heart of the program, a renovated, pilot plant creamery will feature modern industry technology that will create products in smaller volumes while encouraging hands-on learning, research and product development. New campus equipment will include:

• A new cheese processing line, including a cheese vat donated by the Leprino Foods Company Foundation. Leprino Foods is a global leader of the dairy industry and has two manufacturing facilities in the Central Valley.
• A cheese ripening chamber.
• A mozzarella cheese stretcher, cooker and molder.
• A membrane separation system to filter various components from milk to make different types of products.
• A new semi-automized yogurt processing line. 

The national DBI program, which was created in 2019, supports three other regional programs tied to university and industry collaboratives in Tennessee, Vermont and Wisconsin.

Fresno State President Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval and graduate student Daniel Olmos, USDA Under Secretary Jennifer Lester Moffitt, U.S. Congressional representatives Jim Costa and Connie Conway discuss his cheese research project.