Development of acoustic cavitation based affordable milk processing technology for small rural dairy farms

"Milk supply by the small dairy farms to the local markets not only reduces transportation costs but also provides cultural and economic benefits to the communities. However, the majority of the milk processing operations are carried out in large plants at the wholesale level. Such capacities and the large capital requirement act as a barrier to entry for small farmers and prohibit them to get a better price by carrying out their own milk processing. As a result, in spite of the steady rise of retail milk price, the price paid to the farmers has not changed significantly over the last two decades. That has made it more difficult for the small farmers to offset the rising costs and more and more dairy farmers are getting out of the business. There is no cost-effective milk processing technology to serve the small dairy farmers needs. Harris Acoustic Products is proposing a degassing/homogenization treatment of milk using sonication to USDA as an inexpensive and practical way to process the milk for longer shelf life. Upon completion of the project, a new class of affordable, modular, small milk processors will be available to small farmers for packaging milk effectively. This will allow the small dairy farmers to add value to their products and help them to remain a part of their communities."