Posted 15 June, 2026
11 Iowa dairy farms and businesses have been awarded Choose Iowa Dairy Innovation Grants. The announcement was made during a Dairy Month visit to Gav-n-view Farm near Lansing, one of this year's grant recipients. The grant program is administered by Choose Iowa within the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship.
The Choose Iowa Dairy Innovation Grant Program offers competitive matching grants of up to $100,000 per project, with a one-to-one financial match required, to support on-farm dairy processing and labor-saving technologies. Eligible projects include investments in processing and packaging equipment, robotics, automated feeding systems, herd health monitoring technology, and other value-added innovations. The 11 projects announced today will receive a total of $614,620.35 in cost-share funding and leverage more than $1.27 million in total investment, helping dairy farmers improve efficiency, expand processing capacity, and bring more Iowa-made dairy products to market.
Since the program's launch in 2024, 46 dairy projects have been awarded funding through the Choose Iowa Dairy Innovation Grant Program. Combined, these projects have leveraged approximately $7.6 million in total investment including private funds match, helping dairy producers expand processing capacity, adopt labor-saving technologies, strengthen herd management, and bring more Iowa-made dairy products to market.
“Iowa State Dairy Association is proud of the impact the Dairy Innovation Grant Program continues to have on Iowa’s dairy farmers and processors,” said Robert Horst, a dairy farmer from Bristow and President of the Iowa State Dairy Association. “This investment in Iowa’s dairy industry has demonstrated a meaningful return by supporting dairy farm families, encouraging innovation and growth, and providing Iowans with greater access to dairy products made right here in our state. It's one of the few grant programs where Iowans can truly see, touch, and taste the results of the investment every day in their local communities.”
The Department received 40 project applications for this round of grant funding totaling more than $2.25 million requests. The continued interest in these highly competitive grants reflects the growing momentum behind value-added dairy production in Iowa and the commitment of dairy producers to invest in innovation and growth. The grants are intended to support smaller Iowa dairy farms and processors with less than 50 employees as they pursue value-added opportunities and operational improvements.