The Pennsylvania Dairy Investment Program was established under Act 38 of 2019

Dairy Farmers in Pennsylvania should be aware of the new Grant, Only Pennsylvania Businesses, Non–Profits, Schools, or Institutions of Higher Education can apply and must have eligible projects that support the dairy industry in with these general categories.

  • Research and Development
  • Going Organic
  • Value-Added Processing
  • Marketing

There are other requirements, and the full details of the grant can be downloaded here. This year’s budget funded the program at $5 million. The program is administered by the Commonwealth Financing Authority. with the maximum grant award at $500,000.

To apply for funding, and for additional information, please visit the PDIP Website.

In a Study by Progressive Dairy, Pennsylvania ranked 7th in the nation for Total Milk Production with Lancaster County, PA ranked 12th among the list of Americas Top Producing Counties. On the top 100 Counties, There are 6 Counties from Pennsylvania and all are located in Central Pennsylvania, Susquehanna Valley Area. PA is home to roughly 6650 Dairy farms and those contribute $14.7 billion in economic Revenue Annually. The industry provides oer 52000 jobs.

Best Dairy counties in the USA
source: Progressive Diary – U.S. Dairy Stats

Since 2008 PA has lost 1470 Dairy herds, in 2018 Pennsylvania had 6,200 herds with 519,000 total Dairy Cows

This Grant should help Dairy Farmers stay competitive in the changing marketplace, and will allow farmers with smaller herd sizes to grow their operation.