Dairy Processing - March/April 2023 - 68

ASSOCIATION INSIGHTS
opportunities
within challenges
The Innovation Center for US Dairy leans on its collective strength.
by Mike Durkin | Innovation Center for US Dairy
T
here is nothing like the uniqueness of the US dairy
industry, where farmers and processors unite for the
greater good.
We have the checkoff-founded Innovation Center for US
Dairy to thank for laying the groundwork for how we come
together in a pre-competitive spirit to address issues and
opportunities that are important to all of us, whether we're
on the front lines of milk production or one of the companies
that takes a farmer's raw milk and processes it to market.
I have been bullish about the Innovation Center's mission
for many years, so when the opportunity became available
in January to serve as its next chair, it was an honor and
humbling experience to accept the endorsement of my
industry peers.
The Innovation Center has a strong foundation that
my predecessor, Schreiber Foods chair Mike Haddad,
helped build. And while our members may compete in
the marketplace, our collective strength has vaulted US
dairy ahead of many other agriculture industries. We have
assembled dairy's top leaders and some of the best and
brightest minds that follow the mantra that we are better
together, and we can create an even more viable industry.
I credit dairy farmers for their vision of creating the
Innovation Center in 2008 through the checkoff. It's given us the
ability to attract members large and small who produce a variety
of nutritious dairy foods. This diversity allows us to find solutions
in the areas of shared social responsibility and sustainability
priorities, such as nutrition and health, food security, the
environment, animal care, workforce and food safety.
68 MAR-APR 2023 | DAIRYPROCESSING.COM
ENVIRONMENTAL EMPHASIS
While every one of these priorities is important, I want
to address the environmental emphasis and how that has
evolved over the years. At Leprino, I have seen the focus
on our sustainable practices shift from a " nice to do " to a
" must do, " but this applies to the entire supply chain so US
dairy can remain trusted and accepted by our customers and
consumers.
Thankfully, US dairy is not playing from behind. The
Innovation Center took a proactive step with the creation
of the Stewardship Commitment Task Force - an effort
that I initially chaired - and our collective journey was well
underway. In 2018, we launched the US Dairy Stewardship
Commitment to support farmers, cooperatives and processors
who voluntarily work to advance sustainability leadership
and transparently report progress on priorities such as animal
care, environment, food safety and community engagement.
Adopters of the commitment represent more than 75% of US
milk production.
One of my goals as chair is to attract even more companies
to the commitment. There is a place for everyone no matter
a company's size or processing method. We feel that if we
are going to hold ourselves accountable and build trust as an
industry, we need everyone at the table. So, while the train
has left the station, it's not so far down the tracks that you still
can't get on board.
The need for this accountability isn't going away and we
need our collective strength to succeed. I can't stress enough
how critical it is that we lead with data and proof points as
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Dairy Processing - March/April 2023

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