Tulip Tree Creamery, which is based in Indianapolis, is among more than three dozen dairy businesses who have been awarded Dairy Business Builder grants by the Dairy Business Innovation Alliance (DBIA).
The cheese maker, which is located just east of Eagle Creek Park on the northwest side of Indianapolis, also received a $100,000 grant from DBIA in 2023.
Tulip Tree Creamery was founded in 2014 by Fons Smits and Laura Davenport and focuses on hand-crafted, European-style specialty cheeses and butter. According to the company’s website, they source their milk from Country Meadows, which is based in Hudson, Indiana in Steuben County. The dairy farm has a mixed herd made up of Jersey and Holstein cows which are not given hormones or antibiotics in their milking herd.
The Dairy Business Builder grant program aims to encourage small-to-medium-sized dairy farmers, entrepreneurs, and processors to pursue innovative projects such as dairy farm diversification, on-farm processing, value-added product creation, and efforts to market dairy products for export.
Reimbursement grants of up to $100,000 each are awarded following a competitive review process.
The DBIA is a partnership between the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association (WCMA) and the Center for Dairy Research (CDR) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is supported by USDA.
“This round of DBIA grant funding was one of the largest so far, with over $3.2 million awarded to 37 small dairy businesses to expand production of value-added dairy products across our region,” said CDR Director John Lucey. “Around 50 percent were first time recipients and small farmstead operations were close to 40 percent of the awardees. These funds are critical to help drive further growth in these small dairy businesses.”
“DBIA backs projects aimed at fostering new growth and enhancing profitability, benefiting not only individual businesses but the broader dairy industry as a whole. WCMA is proud to support farmers, manufacturers, and processors in their endeavors to fortify the future of dairy,” said WCMA Executive Director John Umhoefer.
In addition to Tulip Tree Creamery, the following companies and cooperatives also received Dairy Business Builder Grants:
- Alpinage Cheese LLC, Oak Creek, WI
- Amazing Ice Cream LLC, Port Washington, WI
- Baker’s Golden Dairy LLC, New Waterford, OH
- Bekkum Family Farms LLC, DBA Nordic Creamery, Westby, WI
- Birch Point Distillery, Westby, WI
- Black Radish Creamery, Alexandria, OH
- Burnett Dairy Cooperative, Grantsburg, WI
- Dari LLC, Rising City, NE
- Farm Life Creamery, Ethan, SD
- Florence Creamery, Little Hocking, OH
- GoodSport Nutrition, Evanston, IL
- Hidden Springs Creamery LLC, Westby, WI
- Highfield Farm Creamery, Walworth, WI
- JBS Farms LLC DBA Kokoborrego, Mount Gilead, OH
- Klemish Creamery, New Auburn, WI
- Knueven Creamery, Leipsic, OH
- Landmark Creamery, Belleville, WI
- Love Creamery, Duluth, MN
- MDF Foods LLC, Newton, IA
- Michigan Cream & Sugar Ice Cream Company, Bay City, MI
- Mills Farm, Oelwein, IA
- Moore Family Farm Creamery, Maquoketa, IA
- Mossy Creek Farm, Kalkaska, MI
- Murphy’s Grove, Aitkin, MN
- Picket Fence Creamery, LLC, Woodward, IA
- Prairie Homestead Creamery, Cottonwood, MN
- Redhead Creamery, LLC, Brooten, MN
- Rosewood Dairy, Inc. DBA Renard’s Cheese, Algoma, WI
- Sartori Cheese, Plymouth, WI
- Tranquil Oaks Ranch LLC, Strafford, MO
- Two Cows Creamery, Hot Springs, SD
- Udderly Divine Creamery, Everton, MO
- Uplands Cheese, Dodgeville, WI
- Urban Stead Cheese Co., Cincinnati, OH
- Wapsie Valley Creamery Inc., Independence, IA
- Watershed Foods LLC, Gridley, IL
Including the awards listed above, since its inception as part of the 2018 Farm Bill, the DBIA has awarded 213 grants totaling more than $16.5 million to dairy businesses in Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. The program also offers technical assistance and education to dairy farmers and processors in the region.
Click HERE for more information about Tulip Tree Creamery.
Source: Dairy Business Innovation Alliance
