Erin Fitzgerald Sexson of the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy was recognized as a White House Champion of Change for Sustainable and Climate-Smart Agriculture. Sexson, who serves as senior vice president of global sustainability, was one of 12 leaders honored at a White House ceremony. She led the Innovation Center’s U.S. Dairy Sustainability Commitment for seven years.

The National Dairy Promotion and Research Board honored Bill Ahlem and Joe Bavido with the 2015 Richard. E. Lyng Award for their extensive contributions and distinguished service to dairy promotion.  Ahlem is a dairy farmer from Hilmar, Calif., and Bavido is a dairy farmer from Sharon, Tenn. The award is named for former U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Richard E. Lyng.

The National Ice Cream Mix Association donated $22,500 to Pennsylvania State University to create an internship award in the College of Agricultural Sciences at University Park, Pa. Proceeds from the endowment will benefit food science majors who successfully complete an internship in a dairy processing facility, with significant emphasis on frozen-dessert manufacturing or fluid-milk processing.

Swiss Valley Farms, Davenport, Iowa, won nine awards for its cheeses in the 2015 National Milk Producers Federation competition. Caves of Faribault’s AmaBlu received the Chairman’s Plaque and was named Grand Champion Cheese. A total of 157 cheeses from 40 plants were entered in the contest representing 14 co-ops from across the country.

Unilever and U.S. Cold Storage hosted a grand opening to showcase their new frozen distribution center (DC) in Covington, Tenn., which connects to Unilever’s existing 815,000 square-foot production facility with a 312-foot corridor kept at -20 degrees. Combined, the two facilities create one of the largest ice cream manufacturing and distribution facilities in the world. Cranes, pallet conveyors and automatic guided vehicles are controlled by warehouse execution system software from Swisslog.