(KIWA Staff Photo)
Harris, Iowa (KUOO) — A dairy operation in Harris is among 11 recipients of funding through the Choose Iowa Dairy Innovation Grant program.
Vellema Dairy was awarded $75,500 to help install a double-seven parabone-style milking parlor. The full project cost is $182,849.
The Choose Iowa Dairy Innovation Grant Program offers competitive matching grants of up to $100,000 per project, with a required one-to-one financial match to support on-farm dairy processing and labor-saving technologies. Eligible projects include investments in processing and packaging equipment, robotics, automated feeding systems, herd-health monitoring technology, and other value-added innovations.
The 11 projects will receive a total of $614,620.35 in cost-share funding and leverage more than $1.27 million in total investment.
Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig says the Choose Iowa Dairy program helps farmers improve efficiency, expand processing capacity, and bring more Iowa-made dairy products to market.
The announcement comes as Iowa celebrates June Dairy Month.
