Several Ways to Elevate Dairy to the Next Level
Recently at the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) Dairy Forum in Phoenix, Az., IDFA’s CEO Michael Dykes shared that a growth mindset is needed to elevate dairy to the next level.
“We have some great opportunities in front of us. We have an opportunity to seize the moment,” he says. “Consumer sentiment seems to be increasing, farmer sentiments are increasing.”
Dykes outlined several wins and areas that U.S. dairy needs to continue to focus on, including:
- Dairy consumption is hot. “We've had a record year. Dairy's not declining. Dairy is growing. We're simply eating more of our dairy than we are drinking. Cheese is driving the bus. We're at 652 lbs. per person overall in dairy; of which 42 lbs. is cheese. Fat is making a resurgence. Butter consumption has increased 9% in the last 10 years.”
- Regaining our health halo. “We need to become central to food as medicine movement. It's going to be huge. All of us baby boomers have one overarching desire. Live longer. We don't want to give up. Americans are moving toward that.”
- Support and further develop the SNAP Dairy Incentive Program. “It doubles purchasing power. Spend a dollar, you get a dollar - an extra dollar in incentives for anyone on SNAP. There are 43 million Americans on SNAP with $1.5 trillion in the Farm Bill that is mostly focused on nutrition.”
- We need to elevate our science. “The science of fat, the science of dairy. We need third-party spokespeople out talking about that. The first dietary guidelines came out in 1980 and we have another one coming out in 2025. We need to work to make sure that we have the most recent science there and the most credible scientists talking about that.”
- We want to preserve WIC benefits. “There's a proposed rule by USDA to cut WIC moms three gallons of milk per month. We're working to try to prevent that from happening. There was a proposed rule to remove flavored milk from schools. Approximately 8% of our milk volume goes to schools. We think removing flavored milk is a bad idea. We've done some things to try to counter that. FDA has said they're going to define healthy in the next 12 to 18 months. We want to make sure dairy is defined as healthy, as dairy is defined as good for you.”
- Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act. “We are very pleased with the outcome in the House vote. One of the keys to success was Congresswoman Kim Schrier, a physician from Washington State, led some of the Florida debate in getting support for this. This is another opportunity if you haven't been talking to your elected official, another opportunity to voice your support for Whole Milk for Healthy Kids in Congress.”
- Sustainability. “We need to be able to thrive in a new era of sustainability. It's coming and the U.S. is going to be market driven. Our dairy CEOs are motivated by sustainability. 65% are looking to pursue sustainability in a greater way. More and more companies are tracking their emissions. More and more companies are submitting to global standards like science-based target initiatives.”
Dykes spoke with enthusiasm when it comes to dairy and shared that when it comes to the trade agenda in the export markets, U.S. dairy needs to reignite our competitive fire.
“The world demands more of our U.S. dairy,” he says. “We need to take that market.”
He also says U.S. dairy needs to take advantage of other export opportunities.
“We need to make sure that we're uniting on pricing policies that enable us to become globally competitive so can meet those customer needs and customer requirements, and so that we can become the reliable supplier,” he says.
With USDA projecting 20 billion more lbs. of milk by 2030, Dykes enthusiastically says he has no doubt producers will produce that milk.
“They will respond to the market,” he says, sharing that today we're exporting about 18% of our milk production. “As more milk comes online, we're going to need to be north of 22% of our milk for exports.”
Dykes concluded that to drive the growth of dairy forward will take investment in people, processors, production, innovation and sustainability.
