Now that you’ve had a month to drink in our new look, it’s time to raise the first of many glasses to Dairy Field’s 100th anniversary.

We’re kicking off our celebration in this issue with a look back at how far processing technology has come in the years since DF and its predecessors have been helping manufacturers do their job better. It’s truly amazing to see the extent to which technology has progressed, transforming arduous tasks into streamlined operations with greater efficiency and safety, retaining the quality and taste of traditional recipes while creating new, innovative products.

With this issue, we also proudly welcome the first quarterly column by Tip Tipton. I’m sure for most of you, Tip needs no introduction. Retired a year now from IDFA and heading up his own consulting firm, Tip will share his wide experience and knowledge with our readers as he helps the industry continue on its journey.

In issues to come, we’ll be offering glimpses of our past with excerpts from our predecessor publications, so you can see how much we all have grown. Plus, we’re inviting dairy veterans to share their personal observations of the industry’s evolution.

OK, now that the ceremony is out of the way, it’s back to business, for me as well as the new Congress. And apparently some legislators think they’re off to a flying start by reviving a failed attempt to boost tariffs on imported milk proteins.

Look, we’ve been through this before. No, MPC isn’t universally interchangeable with NFDM, which the government seems content to keep subsidizing for storage. No, there isn’t an ample domestic supply to keep processors from going offshore, because the current price-support program offers no incentive for making a more useful product. And no, imports of MPC and caseins have no direct impact on farm milk prices, which reached record highs in the past year.

So the solution isn’t to hamper processors’ ability to purchase the ingredients they seek for new and innovative products — it’s to start generating an adequate supply here so producers can reap the rewards. For goodness sakes, this New Deal-era mentality is getting the industry nowhere.

Connie Tipton and the CEO panel at Dairy Forum last month were right on when they said outdated, restrictive dairy policies are strangling the industry’s ability to innovate and compete more effectively on the world stage.

C’mon folks, the future does not lie in powdered milk and government cheese.