Chances are you already know just how delicious Sweet Cow Yogurt is. Whether you like their maple, lemon, are devoted to their rare Juneberry, or can’t get enough of the plain good stuff, there’s bound to be a whole-milk Jersey yogurt that keeps you coming back for more. We love them for their dedication to high-quality ingredients, the happiest cows you can find anywhere, and their entrepreneurial spirit.
At the Co-op, we sell over 17,000 cups of their creamy-tangy delicious stuff each year. They’ve been one of our producers for 11 years, and last year their popularity and burgeoning sales put a big strain on their equipment and their people, trying to keep up with demand. Without appropriately sized equipment, the Sweet Cow team had to work around the clock making multiples of small batches. Big demand is a one of the better problems a business can have, but for a small farm business like Sweet Cow it meant looking at larger pasteurizers and milk holding tanks with price tags north of $50,000. That’s a huge investment, and even more yogurt to sell!
Luckily for us hungry people, and for Sweet Cow, there are funding opportunities through the USDA to increase production capacity for farmers and food producers.
Basically, this is an acknowledgement from the government that most people don’t go into farming to get rich—and, say it with me, we need farmers.
But I digress, the story continues: Sweet Cow applied for a production capacity expansion grant through the Northeast Dairy Business Innovation Center in 2023 but was not selected. They kept on, running their pasteurizer 7 days a week through this summer, when they found the energy to start the 26 page grant application again.
The Northeast Dairy Business Innovation Center (NE-DBIC), one of four such centers, was initiated with the 2018 farm bill. The center is housed by Vermont’s Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets—their mission is to support dairy businesses in the development, production, marketing, and distribution of dairy products. Today they have their eye on fostering resiliency and long-term sustainability for Northeast dairy businesses. They “envision a regional dairy system where dairy farms and processors enjoy viable and healthy businesses that benefit the land, livestock, community, and our regional economy.” Sounds pretty good to us.
Cut to this September, when Sweet Cow shared the EXCELLENT news that this round they had been selected and would be receiving a grant to scale up production! Through the NE-DBIC Sweet Cow was awarded $101,000—just enough to cover their equipment expenses. This will more than double their production capacity, and hopefully give their team (and equipment) more flexibility to take a day off of yogurt-making with the improved batch size. Don’t worry, it will be the same ultra-high quality, most loved Jersey cows yogurt you know and love. We are so excited for the Sweet Cow team and grateful the yogurt is going to keep coming our way.
Rebecca White is the Co-op’s Public & Government Affairs Associate.
