USDA Feasibility Studies in Wisconsin
Independent third-party feasibility studies for USDA B&I, REAP, and Community Facilities projects across rural Wisconsin, prepared to 7 CFR Part 5001 standards for lenders and USDA state office review.
USDA Lending in Wisconsin
Wisconsin is America's Dairyland, and USDA lending follows the dairy map. The state leads the nation in cheese and ranks second in milk, with dairy farms and processing concentrated across the central, eastern, and western counties rather than the metro cores. Cheese and dairy processing, cold storage, farm energy, and the healthcare and childcare needs of dairy communities define where the Business and Industry program, the Rural Energy for America Program, and Community Facilities financing run heaviest, throughout rural Wisconsin.
Program activity runs deep. USDA Rural Development invested more than 2.7 billion dollars across Wisconsin in roughly four years per a January 2025 report, and more than 73 million dollars went to rural businesses and cooperatives in fiscal year 2025. The Rural Energy for America Program funded 196 Wisconsin projects worth 20.7 million dollars from 2021 through mid-2024, and named evidence spans the classes: a 500,000 dollar REAP award funded energy efficiency equipment on the Dairyland Biogas anaerobic digester in New Franken, Brown County, and a Fond du Lac County digester paired a Rural Development Business and Industry loan guarantee of roughly 2.2 million dollars with the dairy energy economy. Ten rural Wisconsin hospitals are at risk of closure, five at immediate risk, per late 2025 CHQPR data, sustaining Community Facilities demand.
B&I applications require an independent feasibility study prepared by a qualified feasibility study consultant with no financial interest in the loan outcome. USDA Rural Development's Wisconsin state office in Stevens Point reviews studies as part of the Conditional Commitment process, supported by area offices across the state.
The Dairy Economy
Dairy is Wisconsin's defining rural economy. The industry generates 52.8 billion dollars in annual economic impact and 121,000 jobs, roughly 45 percent of the state's agricultural activity. Wisconsin has 5,200 dairy farms, more than any other state, and 1.27 million cows producing 32.3 billion pounds of milk a year. The state makes 25 percent of the nation's cheese, 3.64 billion pounds in 2025, ranks first in cheese and second in milk, and its roughly 1,200 licensed cheesemakers produce more than 600 varieties, including 48 percent of the nation's specialty cheese. Cheesemaking anchors rural regions from Green County's Swiss tradition to the Plymouth area in the east.
For feasibility work the dairy economy connects directly to the programs: the Business and Industry program finances cheese and dairy processing, cold storage, and value added capacity, while the Rural Energy for America Program funds the farm energy systems, anaerobic digesters, and efficiency upgrades that Wisconsin producers have drawn on heavily. The same dairy base drives the supporting rural economy of equipment suppliers, cold chain, and the workforce services that USDA programs reach. Note that USDA's April 2, 2026 extended pause on biodigester loan note guarantees now constrains guarantee financed digesters in a state with a deep digester pipeline, while REAP grant funding for digester upgrades remains a documented path.
Project Types We Study
Hotels and Resorts
Hotel and resort projects in rural Wisconsin serve Wisconsin Dells, Door County, the Northwoods lake resorts, and the Great Lakes shoreline. Outside the metro cores, these markets sit on eligible rural ground where the Business and Industry program is an established financing path for lodging.
RV Parks and Campgrounds
RV park and campground projects in rural Wisconsin draw on the Northwoods, Door County, the Driftless Area, the Apostle Islands and the Lake Superior shore, and the state's extensive lake country. These outdoor hospitality assets occupy eligible rural counties and pair naturally with the Business and Industry program.
Restaurants and Food Service
Rural restaurant and food service projects in Wisconsin anchor county seats and tourism towns across the dairy counties, the Northwoods, and Door County. As an established Business and Industry asset class, they support the workforce and visitor demand generated by the state's dairy and recreation economies across eligible rural counties.
Event Venues and Agritourism
Event venue and agritourism projects in rural Wisconsin combine wedding and corporate event demand with farm tourism, dairy and cheese trails, and harvest tourism across the Driftless Area and the central farm counties. These projects occupy eligible rural counties and fit the Business and Industry program.
General and Advanced Manufacturing
Rural manufacturing projects in Wisconsin span food and dairy equipment, paper and forest products machinery, and supplier plants tied to the state's deep manufacturing base. The Business and Industry program finances plant construction, expansion, and equipment across eligible rural counties outside the metro cores.
Food and Beverage Processing
Food and beverage processing projects in rural Wisconsin operate against the nation's leading cheese state and its second largest milk base, with deep value added pipelines in cheese, dairy processing, and packaged foods. The Business and Industry program is an established path for processing capacity across eligible rural counties.
Meat and Poultry Processing
Meat and poultry processing projects in rural Wisconsin address meat and dairy beef processing capacity across eligible counties. Projects can pair the Business and Industry program with the Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program, and dairy operations also pair anaerobic digesters with REAP, as a Fond du Lac County project did alongside a B&I guarantee.
Wineries, Distilleries and Breweries
Winery, distillery, and brewery projects in rural Wisconsin build on a deep brewing heritage and a growing winery and craft distillery scene across the Driftless Area and the lake regions. These producers occupy eligible rural counties and draw on Business and Industry financing and Rural Energy for America Program support for equipment and energy systems.
Sawmills and Wood Products
Sawmill and wood products projects in rural Wisconsin operate inside the northern forests that support a significant forest products and paper base across the Northwoods. The Business and Industry program finances mill construction and modernization, and the Rural Energy for America Program funds kilns and mill energy systems across eligible counties.
Assisted Living and Senior Care
Assisted living and senior care projects in rural Wisconsin address measurable demand across aging Northwoods and Driftless counties where younger residents have moved to metro areas. These facilities are a significant share of Business and Industry healthcare lending and can also draw on Community Facilities financing in eligible rural communities.
Rural Medical and Dental Clinics
Rural medical and dental clinic projects in Wisconsin address documented access pressure, with ten rural hospitals at risk of closure and five at immediate risk per late 2025 CHQPR data. Clinics qualify for both Community Facilities and Business and Industry pathways across eligible rural counties.
Childcare Centers
Childcare center projects in rural Wisconsin meet workforce enabling demand in dairy, processing, and manufacturing labor sheds where care capacity is thin. These facilities qualify for both Community Facilities and Business and Industry pathways across eligible rural counties.
Gas Stations and C-Stores
Gas station and convenience store projects in rural Wisconsin leverage corridor traffic on I-90, I-94, I-39, US-51, and US-53 across eligible counties and are an established Business and Industry asset class. Rural fuel and retail sites have also drawn Rural Energy for America Program energy investment.
Self-Storage Facilities
Self-storage projects in rural Wisconsin serve growing exurban counties along the I-94 corridor and the recreation and lake markets across the Northwoods and Door County. As a stabilized asset class, self-storage is a recognized Business and Industry use across eligible rural counties.
Solar and Renewable Energy (REAP)
Solar and renewable energy projects in rural Wisconsin are primarily funded through the Rural Energy for America Program, with in-state evidence including a 500,000 dollar award for energy efficiency on the Dairyland Biogas digester in New Franken, Brown County, and a rooftop solar award at a Ladysmith operation in Rusk County. Note the April 2026 pause on biodigester loan note guarantees and the 2025 changes that narrowed eligibility for certain solar configurations.
Car Washes
Express and tunnel car wash projects in rural Wisconsin address corridor and county seat traffic across eligible counties and have established Business and Industry program evidence as a recognized commercial asset class.
Cold Storage and Warehousing
Cold storage and refrigerated warehousing projects in rural Wisconsin address first mile and processing capacity demand from the nation's leading cheese economy and its second largest milk base, with cold chain critical to dairy and to the central sands cranberry region. The Business and Industry program finances cold chain capacity across eligible counties.
Marinas
Marina projects in rural Wisconsin anchor recreational marine demand on the Great Lakes shoreline, including Lake Michigan, Lake Superior, the Apostle Islands, and Door County, and on large inland systems such as Lake Winnebago and the Northwoods lakes. These assets occupy eligible rural counties and fit the Business and Industry program.
What Changed in 2026
Effective for loans obligated in fiscal year 2026, beginning October 1, 2025, B&I loans under 5 million dollars receive an 85 percent guarantee, up from 80 percent, with loans of 5 million dollars or more at 80 percent. The upfront guarantee fee is 3.0 percent of the guaranteed amount with a 1 percent reduced fee path for projects in persistent poverty counties, distressed communities, areas of long term population decline, or presidential disaster designations, and the annual retention fee is 0.55 percent. Wisconsin specific factors: the state operates an active Commercial PACE program, PACE Wisconsin, authorized under Wisconsin Statute 66.0627 and administered through the Wisconsin PACE Commission, which carries energy components now excluded from B&I under the August 2025 wind and solar policy; the state's Dairy Processor Grant Program and the Dairy Innovation Hub support the processing base; and USDA's April 2, 2026 extended pause on biodigester loan note guarantees constrains guarantee financed digesters in a deep dairy digester market while Rural Energy for America Program grant funding for digester upgrades remains a documented path.
USDA Rural Development in Wisconsin
USDA Rural Development Wisconsin State Office, 5417 Clem's Way, Stevens Point, WI 54482, led by State Director Andrew C. Iverson, with area offices in Spooner, Dodgeville, Shawano, Fond du Lac, Menomonie, and Stevens Point.
B&I eligibility covers areas outside cities and towns above 50,000 population. Excluded cores: Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, Kenosha, Racine, Appleton, Waukesha, Eau Claire, Oshkosh, Janesville, and La Crosse. Eligible territory includes the Driftless Area, the Northwoods, the central sands and cranberry region, Door County, and the dairy counties across the state, and areas of long term population decline across the northern counties may qualify projects for the program's 1 percent reduced fee path.
Lender Landscape
USDA's OneRD Guaranteed Lending Program operates through approved lenders, and that roster changed in 2026. On May 12, 2026, USDA removed ten lenders from the program, including several nationally and regionally active rural business originators such as Byline Bank, Celtic Bank, ReadyCap Commercial, and North Avenue Capital, after a portfolio review of delinquent loans. Because the approved roster can change, sponsors should confirm any originator's current Lender's Agreement and OneRD approved status through USDA's Lender Lens before relying on it in an application.
Frequently Asked Questions
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