Announced during Gov. Kathy Hochul’s 2024 State of the State address in January, the grant application period is now open for dairy farmers to apply for a piece of $21.6 million to modernize the storage and transportation of milk.

“New York’s dairy farms are the backbone of our agricultural industry, and they contribute so much to our communities, our economies and our long legacy of agricultural excellence,” Hochul said in a press release Friday.

Farmers can apply for funding to help expand on-farm milk storage capacity and support projects to improve the transportation of milk. The request for proposals will be accepted through Feb. 14, 2025.

“The dairy modernization grant program provides critical funding to support our dairy farmers and cooperatives by investing in projects that upgrade agricultural facilities and facilitate the purchase of new equipment,” said New York Agriculture Commissioner Richard Ball.  

During emergency situations like the COVID-19 pandemic and winter storms, some dairy farmers have been forced to dump milk due to gaps in the supply chain and the inability to store the milk. The grant program is designed to help in these situations; farmers can apply for funding for things like milk storage tanks, bulk tanks, milk pipelines, cooling technology and more.

“By implementing new technologies and processes with support through this grant program, nutritious milk and dairy products will continue to get to store shelves as efficiently as possible resulting in time and cost savings along the dairy supply chair from farms to haulers and to processors,” said Northeast Dairy Producers Association Executive Vice President Tonya Van Slyke.

The funding will range in amounts from $50,000 to $250,000 and will be administered by the Farm and Food Growth Fund. There are nearly 2,800 dairy farms in New York, and the industry generated $3.9 billion in 2022, making it the state’s largest agricultural commodity.