The Pennsylvania Center for Dairy Excellence is launching “Transformation Teams”, a pilot project =to aid 10 dairy farms planning significant business transformations. The center will help the chosen farms establish a team of experts to facilitate the business changes, and will offer access to funding and other resources to support planning costs.
“Our industry continues to experience change at a very fast pace and to remain viable, dairy farms need to evolve constantly to meet the challenges of today and the opportunities of tomorrow,” Center for Dairy Excellence Executive Director John Frey said. “Through this pilot project, the center will evaluate the use of a team approach and provide blueprints other dairy farms can use to move through a business evolution and transformation process.”
The Center for Dairy Excellence will select individual farms to participate in the pilot project that is being supported by a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant. The grant will fund the cost of paid team members, pre-implementation expenses, and other discovery-related costs of the transformation team.
Producers interested in applying must have a documented interest in navigating the planning and exploratory processes needed for pursuing a transformation within their business. Those planning to implement increased use of technology, modernization best management practices, environmental improvements, renewable energy systems and enhanced marketing plans are eligible to apply.
Participating farms must provide detailed documentation of their planning processes and experiences, which the transformation team will use to prepare the case studies to share with others contemplating transformation projects. The case studies will be used to document the steps involved in the transformations and how the teams aided in each of those steps. The center will compile those studies and share them with the dairy industry to be emulated by other dairy farms considering business model changes.
Applications for the pilot project must be submitted by June 25 and are available through the Center for Dairy Excellence by calling 717-346-0849 or e-mailing info@centerfordairyexcellence.org. Farms will be selected based on eligibility and scope of the project. Farms accepted in the project will be notified by July 15, with the farms expected to establish their transformation team within 60 days of being notified. The amount of funding available will be announced upon selection of the farms and all funds will be dispersed as work is completed. Funding will be used primarily to cover the cost of paid team members on the teams.
Source: Center for Dairy Excellence