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USDA Works with Wisconsin Cooperatives in Support of Rural Prosperity 

Across Wisconsin, the U.S. Department of Agriculture works with cooperatives - businesses that are owned and managed by its members - to support rural prosperity. Co-op Month is celebrated each year throughout the month of October. For Co-op Month, this update features examples of how USDA Rural Development is working with cooperatives for rural prosperity in Wisconsin. Photo: Cattail Organics Owner Kat Becker, one of the farmer members of the Wisconsin Food Hub Cooperative, with Farm Technician Ted Olson.

“Wisconsin’s cooperatives are engaged in a wide range of innovative activities from re-opening sawmills to getting more fresh vegetables into the hands of children across rural Wisconsin to expanding high-speed internet telecommunications and electric services. These initiatives exemplify how USDA works with rural Wisconsin cooperatives as they establish new revenue opportunities, strengthen local economies, expand employment, and increase access to high‑quality agricultural products.”

- USDA Rural Development Wisconsin State Director Andrew C. Iverson.

Wisconsin Food Hub Cooperative Uses Value-Added Producer Grant to Increase Fresh Vegetables in Schools and Childcare Centers

The farmer-owned Wisconsin Food Hub Cooperative is using a $250,000 grant to increase minimally processed vegetables in schools and childcare centers throughout Wisconsin. From their headquarters in Waupaca, the cooperative is working to provide packets of grab-and-go sizes of fresh broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, kohlrabi, and radishes.

The selected assortment of vegetables will allow year-round product availability through farmer owners of the Wisconsin Food Hub Cooperative and can be processed efficiently by farmer owner Olden Produce LLC. Carrots, kohlrabi and radishes will be cut into matchsticks, which is a cut size smaller than the standard carrot stick. Broccoli and cauliflower will be cut into florets.

This Rural Development investment is through the Value-Added Producer Grant (VAPG) program. The program helps U.S. agricultural producers enter into value-added activities that:

• Generate new products from raw agricultural commodities
• Create and expand marketing opportunities
• Increase producer income through enhanced product value and market reach

The Wisconsin Food Hub Cooperative will use grant funds for working capital expenses, marketing, processing labor, delivery labor, and sales processing labor. The project will help save seven jobs.

Timber Professionals Cooperative Enterprises Re-Opens Sawmill in Tilleda with a  Timber Production Expansion Guaranteed Loan

Members of the Timber Professionals Cooperative Enterprises celebrate the re-opening of a sawmill in Tilleda.

The Timber Professionals Cooperative Enterprises (TPCE) is using a Rural Development loan of $800,000 to re-open and expand the former Hoffman Wood Fiber LLC sawmill in Shawano County. 

TPCE will use guaranteed loan funds to purchase more than 49 acres of real estate and equipment. The equipment will allow TCPE to improve the efficiency of manufacturing wood chips. The project also includes plans to expand capabilities of the site to manufacture new, higher-value products from the same raw materials. The project will create six jobs, with additional staffing added as the sawmill expands.

“This project is a win for Wisconsin’s economy, consumers who want American-made products, and for forest management, which will help keep Wisconsin forests safe and reduce wildfire risk,” Iverson said. “The Timber Production Expansion Guaranteed Loan Program is another example of President Trump and Secretary Rollins’ support for timber industry innovations that improve forest health and reduce wildfire threats while creating good-paying jobs for people in rural, forest-dependent communities in Wisconsin.”

TPCE plans to implement a detailed process to improve productivity involving processes in the wood yard, chip mill, and maintenance department to improve productivity. Installation of an automatic log feed deck and more updates will help increase production from 2,500 to 4,000 tons per month.

This investment is through the Timber Production Expansion Guaranteed Loan Program (TPEP). The TPEP program is operated in partnership with the USDA Forest Service to  provide financial support to qualified lenders whose loan applicants want to establish, reopen, expand, or improve a sawmill or other wood processing facility that processes ecosystem restoration byproducts from USDA Forest Service National Forest System lands. 

More information about the TPEP is available online. 

Westby Cooperative Creamery Uses Business and Industry Guaranteed Loan to Keep Up with the Growing Cottage Cheese Industry

Photo: September 9, 2026 --- Left to right: WCC Farmer-Owner Jared Fleming, WCC Farmer-Owner Jerald Vesbach, WCC Farmer-Owner Seth Byom, WCC Farmer-Owner Ashley Olson; WCC Farmer-Owner Andy Olson, WCC Farmer-Owner Jeff LeJeune, WCC Farmer-Owner Ben Klinkner, WCC Chief Executive Officer and President JD Greenwalt, Sharpe Engineering Specialist Tim Sullivan, Security Financial Bank Specialist Duane Johnson, Nordic Dairy Technologies Founder Jon Foose, Sales & Marketing Manager Emily Bialkowski.

Farmer-owned Westby Cooperative Creamery, the only cottage cheese manufacturer in Wisconsin, will expand and modernize its manufacturing facility through a nearly $15.5 million loan. 

The primary goal of the project is to modernize aging infrastructure and align production capacity with increasing consumer demand for cottage cheese. The expansion will boost production efficiency, ensure food and employee safety, and the long-term stability for the cooperative’s member-owners. The project will support 150 jobs.

Key operational benefits after the expansion include:

• Enclosed systems to automate ingredients, testing, and sanitation
• New technology that improves product safety with High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA)-filtered air environments
• Faster processing: production time reduced from 16 hours to 8 hours
• Increased yield: 10% - 15% more cottage cheese from the same amount of milk

Expansion and modernization will include:

• A new food-grade room within the existing facility
• Installation of four fully enclosed cottage cheese vats (each producing up to 5,700 pounds of cottage cheese per run)
• Two cream tanks (10,000-gallon capacity)
• One new 30,000-gallon milk silo, sourced in Wisconsin
• Upgraded refrigeration, sanitation and auxiliary equipment

The loan is through USDA's Business and Industry Guaranteed Loan Program and its partner bank is the Security Financial Bank. This program offers loan guarantees to lenders for their loans to rural businesses.

More information about the Business & Industry Guaranteed Loan Program is available online.

Cooperatives Expanding High-Speed Internet, Distance Learning, Telecommunications, and Electric Projects in Rural Wisconsin

In Fiscal Year 2026, USDA invested $121.4 million in cooperatives across five projects to expand high-speed internet telecommunications and electric services. 

• Dairyland Power Cooperative will use a $33.8 million loan and a $65.3 million loan for two separate transmission facility projects.  
• Chippewa Valley Electric Cooperative will use a $7.0 million loan to build 52 new miles, improve 27 miles of line, and make other system improvements.
• West Wisconsin Telecom Cooperative will use a $14,538 loan to deploy a fiber-to-the-premises network to provide high-speed internet. 

These investments are through the Electric Infrastructure Loan and Loan Guarantee program. This program makes insured loans and loan guarantees to nonprofit and cooperative associations, public bodies, and other utilities. Insured loans primarily finance the construction of electric distribution facilities in rural areas. More information about the Electric Infrastructure Loan and Loan Guarantee Program is available online. 

The Cooperative Education Service Agency (CESA) 10 will use a $749,400 grant to modernize instructional technology and expand educational access for rural communities. The grant is through USDA’s Distance Learning and Telemedicine (DLT) Grants program, This competitive program helps rural communities use advanced telecommunications technology to connect to each other - and the world - overcoming the effects of remoteness and low population density. More information about the Distance Learning and Telemedicine (DLT) Grants program is available online.

Learn more online at www.rd.usda.gov/wi, subscribe to GovDelivery updates, and follow us on X at @RD_Wisconsin.

USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.