Dairy Forum 2025: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

 

I am thankful for the opportunity to attend Dairy Forum as a member of the media and for the fabulous program that the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) puts together every year. I am also thankful for the many friendships developed over the years and how it was impossible to make it to events on time because at every turn there was another one of my dairy family members to catch up with. We are better together. 

1. We are limitless. This is not just good, it’s great. 

“I believe our potential is truly limitless. I’m an optimist. I’m a believer. We have so much opportunity in front of us,” said Michael Dykes, president and CEO of IDFA during his opening remarks on January 27.

The record attendance at this year’s Dairy Forum supports this enthusiasm. Further, in a McKinsey survey of IDFA’s member leaders, 70% expressed optimism. It was reported that over the next three years, more than $8 billion is being invested into the dairy processing industry. (This number is much larger, according to Dykes, who said during a media briefing that a number of companies came up to him after his keynote to share what they are doing.)

And a first-timer at the event— Meyer Sosland, chief operating officer and executive editor at Sosland Publishing (publishers of Dairy Processing)--shared with me, “I was impressed by the quality of the content and pace of the event. It was one of the best-run industry events I have ever attended.”

 EXPLORE DAIRY INNOVATION AT THE UPCOMING IDDBA IN NEW ORLEANS

 

2. We need to continue to make dairy “good food.” We know it’s already great.

Dykes identified “elevate nutrition and wellness” as an opportunity for the dairy industry to embrace to assist with realizing its limitless potential.

“We are in a period of time where health and wellness is absolutely core to our dairy industry. It’s core to the food industry and we have a great story in dairy. We have a great story to tell. We need to tell it,” he said. “…we’ve been working to get dairy seen as good for you, so when we got to the day where we had ‘good food’ and ‘bad food,’ we want dairy to be in the ‘good food’ category.”

“I’m a firm believer dairy can play a central role in making America healthy again. Our dairy companies are becoming nutrition and wellness partners to consumers,” said Dykes. “We have been united. We’ve been proactive and we’ve told our story and when we have done that, we’ve been very effective. I don’t think there’s a better example of this than the Healthy School Milk Commitment.”

He explained that when the U.S. Department of Agriculture proposed the elimination of flavored milk in schools, IDFA knew it had to do something.

“That’s six and a half percent of the milk you produce,” he told the audience. “It was the view that there was way too much sugar in chocolate milk in schools, so we went to the Department of Agriculture and said, ‘hey, if we make an industry commitment to a maximum of 10 grams, can we work with you?’ The answer was ‘yes.’ We worked with many of the 37 processors representing nearly all of the school milk sold. We made the commitment. We preserved the milk and we are well ahead of what we pledged to do. We’re now at seven and a half grams of added sugar. We can do this. We have done this…We anticipated the good food, bad food debate.”

 

3. We need to do a better job marketing our high-quality, complete, delicious protein. This is a good thing to do. 

“Young parents are looking for growth and development for their own children. Active adults are looking for more of protein’s functional benefits. Seniors are looking for stability, mobility,” said Dykes. “…protein is our superhero in the dairy profile and many of you are telling the protein story. We all know that a healthy diet begins with dairy. We’ve got 13 essential nutrients, three of the four nutrients that are of public health concern.”

4. The world is messed up. It’s ugly. 

“We’re in a strange time,” Dykes also said. “We must win in Washington… We’ve got a lot of education to do across the administration. Seventy-five members of the Congress are brand spanking new, so our state associations, our state affiliates, we need to work together. We need to count on you guys to be our advocates in the states. We need to do the same thing on the federal level, but it’s going to take more than that. We’re going to need your voice. We’re going to need you to participate.

“We’re also going to have to be adaptable,” Dykes said. “We’re blessed in dairy. The state of our U.S. dairy is strong and is growing. Consumption continues to grow.”

He showed a photo of Senator Roger Marshall, and said, “He opened a glass of milk, opened a carton of milk and drank a carton of milk and encouraged her (the new Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins, during her confirmation hearing) to be thinking about supporting whole milk in schools. It’s that kind of advocacy. We need unexpected people saying unexpectedly positive things about dairy and unexpected places.”

Thank you Nicole Kidman.

5. Deportation and tariff threats are real. This is bad, maybe very bad, which can make it ugly. 

“I think mass deportations will probably be the next thing that we deal with as an industry,” said Dykes. “We’ll be doing a webinar for our members on how to prepare for that and what to do if you get the knock on the door…We’ll have to work our way through that and we will.”

6. Innovation keep dairy products relevant to the evolving consumer. This is better than good. This is great. 

Dairy Management Inc., in conjunction with the Center for Dairy Research in Madison, Wis., showed us three concepts ready for commercialization. I want to buy Jade now! It is a cappuccino nutritional dairy shake for women with only 100 calories. It contains 15 grams of complete protein, no added sugars and is lactose free. It is delicious!

Cookies and Cream Cottage Creamery is an ice cream made with a cottage cheese base. It was developed by food scientists at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. Each pint contains 26 grams of protein, along with half the sugar, 60% fewer calories and 70% less fat than Haagen-Dazs Cookies and Cream.  

There was also a next-generation whey protein beverage dry blend that contained prebiotics and probiotics.

7. Be authentic. Takes chances. But when it comes to food safety, never risk it. This is good, has the potential to be bad, and could get ugly. 

Carla Harris, the keynote presenter at lunch on January 27, emphasized that successful leaders are authentic and take chances. One can argue that successful foods are authentic, too. You cannot get too much more authentic than fluid milk straight from the cow, albeit after pasteurization, a time-temperature process that ensures safety for all.

And you thought I was going to talk about the polarizing keynote speaker on Sunday night. I can’t. I boycotted it.

 EXPLORE DAIRY INNOVATION AT THE UPCOMING IDDBA IN NEW ORLEANS