In the ongoing maturation of the U.S. dairy industry as a global player, we took another step forward in 2012.

The nutritional and health benefits of dairy food consumption have long provided industry with multiple opportunities to promote its products to health-minded consumers.

Westby Cooperative Creamery, Westby, Wis., said it had record revenues of more than $50 million in 2012. General Manager Pete Kondrup said total revenues from operations were more than $30 million in manufactured dairy food products and nearly $20 million in fluid milk sales.

Joseph Gallo Farms, maker of Joseph Farms Cheese, was awarded the Governor’s Environmental and Economic Leadership Award for its sustainable farming and cheese making at a ceremony held Jan. 22 in Sacramento, Calif.

We as an industry understand what the former editor of the Harvard Business Review Theodore Levitt meant when he observed, “Creativity is thinking up new things. Innovation is doing new things.”

By most measures, ice cream is not a growing market. Production is declining, sales are stalled and manufacturers aren’t increasing prices by much. Yet there are more plants making ice cream.

Most people who work in the dairy industry are familiar with the iconic “got milk?” milk mustache campaign, but fewer know that research is the driving force behind MilkPEP’s approach to program activities ranging from targeting to messaging and creative execution. Often, the research conducted to guide our consumer campaign also provides our processors with important and actionable insights that can help guide product development, inform marketing and drive sales.

Fans can like the Facebook page of their favorite ice cream brand and Tweet all day long about its flavors. But sometimes, to really understand a company’s mission, you have to meet face-to-face with the owners and watch how they make ice cream. That’s the approach Snoqualmie Ice Cream owner Barry Bettinger takes with his distributors. He invites them to tour the fully sustainable manufacturing plant in Maltby, Wash., and make ice cream. Once the visitors see the passion of the company’s 12 employees and the integrity in manufacturing a super-premium organic ice cream (19% butterfat and 15% overrun), they “get it,” Bettinger said.

Cornell University has a world-renown dairy science department. But alumnus Neal Gottlieb, the founder of Three Twins Ice Cream, graduated from the College of Human Ecology with a degree in consumer economics and housing. He did enroll in a milk quality course — for a day. He dropped the class because it conflicted with his rowing schedule. As for Cornell’s famed creamery, Gottlieb admits he was not a huge consumer of its dairy products, but he fondly remembers the 99-cent ice cream sandwiches.

Tucked away in a small town in Wisconsin is Bel Brands USA’s Little Chute plant, the smaller of its two cheese plants. Last October the plant was the first of Bel’s to get the Foundation for Food Safety Certification (FSSC) 22000.

This intensive three-day course covers the principles and practices used in grading natural cheeses. Read More

The Dairy & Food Plant Wastewater Short Course is a two-day short course designed to deal with issues of water usage in dairy and food plants and environmental issues involving wastes coming from dairy and food processing plants. Read More

Could your canned food products be vulnerable to contamination? By attending our Better Process Control School, you will learn how you can reduce your susceptibility and minimize your liability. Read More

8th in the series of successful events organized by Pixie Consulting Solutions Ltd, will consist of a specialized exhibition focused on Dairy Farming & Dairy Processing and a business programme featuring conferences and round table discussions. Read More