Research Focus Areas

The Midwest Dairy Foods Research Center has four research focus areas that are consumer centric and address national and global needs. Our objective with each area is to grow the value of our farmers' milk and make the Midwest and the U.S. dairy industry more competitive. All of our research research priorities are aligned with faculty expertise and capabilities at land-grant Universities affiliated with the Center.
- Exports
- Consumer solutions
- Sustainability
- Food safety
Funding organizations
Our research program is managed by the National Dairy Council (NDC) and Midwest Dairy. These non-profit planning and management organizations are funded by dairy checkoff dollars and support both basic and applied dairy product research.
Research grants
The National Dairy Council is our national sponsor and awards grants on a nationally-competitive basis to U.S. universities, Federal and State government agencies and domestic non-profit/not-for-profit research organizations.
Midwest Dairy is our major regional sponsor to the center. Regional funds are internally awarded on a competitive basis among the University of Minnesota, Iowa State University, South Dakota State University, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Kansas State University, and the University of Missouri. Other regional support comes from industry sponsor fees.