(Des Moines)--Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig has announced that 11 Iowa dairy farms and businesses, including two in northwest Iowa, have been awarded Choose Iowa Dairy Innovation Grants. 

Vellema Dairy of Harris was awarded $75,500 for a double-seven parabone-style milking parlor. The anticipated total project cost is $182,848.
 

Also, Dutchland Dairy in Rolfe will receive $94,869 for monitoring collars with pulsation monitoring systems.  The anticipated total project cost: $189,738

The grant program is administered by Choose Iowa within the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. The announcement was made in conjunction with Dairy Month

The 11 projects will receive a total of $614,620  in cost-share funding and leverage more than $1.27 million in total investment, helping dairy farmers improve efficiency, expand processing capacity, and bring more Iowa-made dairy products to market.