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A growing number of Americans seem to be convinced that some things are just better with butter. According to data from the USDA, per-capita consumption of butter reached 5.7 pounds in 2016 — up a 1.4 pounds since 1996 and a full pound since 2006.

The dairy cooperative rebrands as Edge to represent its growth and evolution.

The Breakthrough Award for Dairy Ingredient Innovation honors achievements by dairy processing members of the American Dairy Products Institute.

Its Heritage Ridge Creamery pepper-Jack cheese was named the Grand Champion in NMPF’s Championship Cheese Contest.

Philippe Horvath was awarded the 2018 Bower Award for groundbreaking research on CRISPR-Cas.

Ice cream's recent comeback — which began in earnest last year — shows no signs of waning. Retail sales of ice cream in the United States rose a respectable 3.9% to $6.1 billion during the 52 weeks ending Aug. 6, 2017, according to data from Chicago-based Information Resources Inc. (IRI). Unit sales climbed 2.6% to 1.6 billion.

Across food categories, consumers have made their demands clear — they want clean labels, more organic options and flavor variety. And manufacturers of cultured dairy have been answering this call. A diverse range of yogurts, cottage cheese and cream cheese products has hit the market in the last year, shining a light on this category’s versatility.

As consumers continue to seek out food with clean ingredients, protein on the go, freshness and convenience, cheese is the answer to many of those needs. Over the last year, cheese processors have doubled down on portable snack offerings, from cheese bites to snack packs. Hybrid options (think cheese paired with lunch meats, nuts, fruit and pretzels) are popping up everywhere. Portion control and portability are the keys.