New England Dairy’s mission is to champion New England dairy farm families and the nutritious foods they produce. We accomplish this by promoting dairy, building trust among consumers, and celebrating all things dairy — farming, food, nutrition, and wellness.
Our dairy promotion grant program supports activities that improve public perception of dairy farming and/or increase consumption of local dairy products.
What We Prioritize for Funding:
Events and programs that engage with youth (5-24 years old) or millennial consumers (25-40 years old)
We have identified several target audiences to focus on when building trust in dairy, including youth and millennial consumers. Youth are future consumers and building trust with this target audience will lead us into the future. Millennial consumers are making purchasing decisions for their family. Overall, we focus on events and program that connect farmers with consumers in their community.
Project Ideas:
Find inspiration for potential in-person or virtual events and programs:
- Events focused on farming: Open farm day, dairy crawls, environmental open house, cheese and wine tasting featuring a farmer, interactive exhibits at a fair or food festival.
- Events focused on food insecurity Must also include a promotion component such as a press release, dairy nutrition information, and/or dairy farming education.
- Milk sampling or DIY Milk Bar kit at a community event: Must be paired with dairy education. New England Dairy is creating a toolkit to support farmers in creating a DIY Milk Bar. If you are interested in pursuing this as a grant opportunity, please connect with our farmer relations team prior to submission for more information.
- School activities: Dairy-themed ag literacy kits, farm tours for schools
- Social media campaigns: Video series with targeted social media advertisements focusing on cow care, sustainability, health, and other topics