
Co-op Contention
Tillamook upholds rBST policy despite Monsanto pressure.
Members of Oregon’s
Tillamook County Creamery Association (TCCA) in late February voted to
uphold a policy requiring the cooperative’s 147 producers to stop
using recombinant bovine somatotropin (rBST) on their herds, despite an
aggressive campaign against the policy launched by the maker of the
artificial hormone.
TCCA reported a 2-to-1 margin in support of the
policy, which calls for members to stop using rBST by April 1, 2005. The
vote came as a result of a group of TCCA members, rallied by rBST-maker
Monsanto Corp., to block the restriction.
While TCCA is not the only dairy business in the
country to forgo the use of rBST, Monsanto has been especially vigorous in
trying to dissuade the co-op from implementing its policy, TCCA officials
reported. Monsanto representatives met with TCCA executives last June and
pressed the co-op to reconsider its policy. In November, the president of
Monsanto’s dairy business sent letters directly to TCCA members
questioning the policy and seeking its reversal.
TCCA leaders decried the letters as an intrusion into
the co-op’s internal affairs and what they called an
unprecedented effort to divide member farmers over the issue.
In April 2003, TCCA’s board began the lengthy
process of developing and implementing an rBST-free policy for all
producers delivering milk to its plants in Tillamook and Boardman, Ore. The
co-op says the policy, codified in May 2004, was adopted after exhaustive
discussions and research initiated by the board.
TCCA says the decision was based on customer requests
and a company preference for “traditional” practices. Monsanto
says it will respect the policy but hopes it will be reconsidered.
St. Louis-based Monsanto is the only commercial
producer of rBST. Sold under the brand name Posilac, the artificial hormone
stimulates milk production in cows. While the FDA has approved rBST, many
consumers have become concerned about its use. In fact, TCCA reports,
consumer inquiries on the subject have more than doubled in the past year.
As such, TCCA determined that using milk produced without rBST
supplementation better meets customers’ expectations.
TCCA does not intend to label its products rBST-free
because, the co-op says, such labeling might cause consumer confusion due
to the FDA’s findings that milk from rBST-supplemented cows is safe
and no different than milk coming from untreated cows. The co-op will,
however, inform its customers who ask about rBST about the policy.
Image makers
Product and promotion news
mLincoln, Neb.-based Roberts
Dairy is donating a portion of the proceeds from 5-quart vanilla ice
cream sales to provide care packages sent by Operation We Care® men and
women in the armed forces serving overseas. Roberts Dairy’s
Hiland-Roberts Vanilla Ice Cream 5-quart pails are imprinted with
“Support Our Troops” yellow ribbons and available in grocery
stores in Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Illinois and Minnesota. Located
in Norfolk, Neb., Hiland-Roberts Ice Cream Co. is the state’s only
active ice cream production facility. “We must not forget our
military men and women serving under dangerous conditions in Iraq,
Afghanistan and elsewhere,” says Jeff Powell, president of Roberts
Dairy. Powell encourages consumers to show support for American troops by
purchasing a 5-quart container of Hiland-Roberts vanilla ice cream.
Operation We Care sends care packages each month to
specific military members overseas. For more information, visit www.operationwecare.com.
The Milk Processor
Education Program (MilkPEP), sponsor of the national Milk Mustache
“got milk?” campaign, received top honors at the recent Reggie
Awards ceremony in Chicago for last summer’s “Shape You Want to
Be In” and “Show Off with the Top Down” promotions. The
awards were given by the Promotions Marketing Association for the best
promotions and integrated marketing campaigns in 2004. Judges for the
awards were promotions-industry experts and included professionals from
McDonald’s Corp., DreamWorks SKG and Northwestern University.
The promotions were MilkPEP’s in-store effort to
increase consumer awareness of milk’s role in weight loss and to
increase milk sales. Last June, the “Shape You Want to Be In”
promotion educated consumers about milk’s weight-loss benefits.
MilkPEP partnered with Shape magazine to distribute about 13 million copies
of a custom weight-loss guide that was free with any purchase of milk. From
mid-July to mid-August, the “Show Off with the Top Down”
promotion gave away 24 Volkswagen Beetle convertibles in 24 days to reward
consumers for incorporating more milk into their diets and adopting
healthier lifestyles. To enter the contest, consumers entered UPC codes
from milk packages on the contest’s Web site, www.2424milk.com. The
winning promotions were components of MilkPEP’s broader “24/24
Milk Your Diet. Lose Weight!” program, which integrates promotions,
public relations and advertising efforts to educate consumers about
milk’s role in weight loss. Launched last May, the initiative
continues in 2005.
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