{"id":22266,"date":"2026-02-26T00:20:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T00:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drlouis.us\/louis-lab\/?p=22266"},"modified":"2026-02-26T19:36:46","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T19:36:46","slug":"louis-lab-receives-usda-afri-award-to-support-dairy-farm-resilience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drlouis.us\/louis-lab\/louis-lab-receives-usda-afri-award-to-support-dairy-farm-resilience\/","title":{"rendered":"Louis Lab receives USDA-AFRI award to support dairy farm resilience"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Louis Lab receives USDA-AFRI award to support dairy farm resilience<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>

By Jose Brice\u00f1o, Communication Specialist | February 24, 2026<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Louis Lab and research partners have been awarded $588,600<\/strong> in USDA\u2013AFRI<\/strong> funding for the project \u201cEconomic Decision-Making Tools for Small and Mid-Sized Dairy Farmers for Business Resilience.\u201d<\/strong> The project is supported through AFRI Foundational and Applied Science within Agriculture Economics and Rural Communities (AERC), under Program Code A1601: Small and Medium-Sized Farms<\/strong>, which supports research and tools that strengthen the viability and competitiveness of small and medium-sized farm businesses.<\/h2><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Small and mid-sized dairy farms operate in an environment shaped by consolidation, labor constraints, and elevated exposure to price and cost volatility.<\/mark><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When producers consider major transitions (access different markets, or diversify revenue) or changes in structure (to address labor availability), those decisions often involve large, irreversible investments and complex trade-offs. This project will develop an open-access, web-based decision-support tool <\/strong>designed to help dairy producers evaluate (1) whether a transition is feasible given their farm\u2019s operational and financial position and (2) which option best aligns with their goals and constraints under alternative market conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The framework will compare four management strategies considered by dairy producers: automation<\/strong> through robotic milking systems, transition to organic production, raw milk<\/strong> marketing where legally permitted, and diversification into crossbreeding<\/strong> production. The tool will be grounded in real-world farm conditions in California, Texas, and Wisconsin<\/strong>, reflecting the different dairy systems across three major dairy states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rather than providing a single \u201cbest practice,\u201d the project emphasizes structured, comparable evaluation across alternatives. It will combine farm business benchmarks with scenario-based analysis so users can examine how results change with key assumptions (e.g., prices, costs, and production outcomes) and with differences in farm objectives. The goal is to provide a practical resource that improves economic decision- making around high-stakes management practices, supporting more resilient farm businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project is led by Dr. Sushil Paudyal <\/strong>(Texas A&M University) and includes Dr. Luis Pe\u00f1a-L\u00e9vano<\/strong> (University of California, Davis), Dr. Karun Kaniyamattam<\/strong> (Texas A&M University), and Dr. Shaheer Burney<\/strong> (University of Wisconsin\u2013River Falls), with collaborators Dr. Daniela Bruno<\/strong> (UC ANR) and Dr. Rubia Branco Lopes<\/strong> (UC ANR).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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