IDFA Marketing Awards

News EditorAgribusiness, Industry News, Media

The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) announced the winners of the 2007 at its SmartMarketing Conference today in Las Vegas. The awards honor the dairy industry’s top marketing, public relations and advertising efforts. There were many great entries, and HP Hood even won a print advertising award based on a post we reported back in the fall!

The “Best of the Best” — the Best Overall Award for Marketing Excellence — went to Mayfield Dairy Farms for its “Flavor Decision ’06” campaign. The company picked up four other awards for the campaign including Best Website, Best Overall Promotion, Best Overall Mixed Media Campaign and Best Overall Public Relations Campaign. Mayfield also took the prize for Best Billboard/Transit Ad in the fluid milk category.

LALA Foods, a first-time competitor in the Achieving Excellence Awards, won six silver awards: Best Billboard/Transit Ad in the combination category, Best New Product in the cultured category, Best Package Design in the cultured category, Best Promotion in the combination category, Best Mixed Media Campaign in the combination category and Best Ethnic Marketing Campaign in the combination category.

Wells’ Dairy took the award for the Best Overall TV Ad along with the award for Best Overall Mixed Media Campaign for multiple products/product lines. Saputo Cheese won for Best Overall Package Design promotional packaging. The award for Best Overall Print Ad went to HP Hood for its ad featuring a photo of a dropped ice cream cone and the headline “Life’s Full of Little Crash Landings”.

This year’s Best New Product responds to consumers’ growing interest in the nutritional value of omega-3 fatty acids. Omega Farms positioned its cheddar and monterey jack cheeses as a convenient source of omega-3 from fish oil. Dairy Field magazine also named Omega Farms as an Editor’s Choice pick for 2006.

Shamrock Farms took home the award for Best Overall Ethnic Marketing Piece for a radio spot featuring “Roxie” the 12-year-old “spokescow”. The Best Overall School Marketing Piece was awarded to Tetra Pak for the “Lunchbox School Kit”.

Dairyline Markets in Review

Chuck ZimmermanDairyline, Markets

DairylineDairy Markets Week in Review
Cash block closed Friday April 27 at $1.55 per pound, up 6 3/4-cents on the week, 39 cents above a year ago, and the highest price since September 2005. Barrel closed at $1.4950, up a penny on the week, and 36 1/4 cents above a year ago. Nine cars of block traded hands and 16 of barrel. The NASS U.S. average block price hit $1.4047, up 0.8 cent. Barrel averaged $1.4248, up 1.1 cents.

Alan Levitt said in Tuesday’s DairyLine that there’s a lot of speculation in cheese. Marketers are concerned there’s going to be a shortage later in the year, he said, so they’re buying ahead a little and that seems to be what’s driving the market.

Butter closed Friday at $1.4075 per pound, up 1 3/4-cents on the week, and 22 3/4-cents above a year ago. Six cars were sold on the week, all on Friday, and the first sale in the spot market since April 16. NASS butter averaged $1.3482, up 2.3 cents. NASS nonfat dry milk averaged $1.4884, up 9.6 cents, and dry whey averaged 78.94 cents, up a penny on the week.

Provided courtesy of Dairyline.

Upstate Plant Grows

News EditorDairy Business, Industry News, Milk

upstatemilklogoUpstate Niagara Cooperative, of New York, is celebrating the one year anniversary of its cultured dairy products plant, with a nine-percent growth in sales.

The new $32.5 million plant, which opened last May, is twice the size of the century-old plant it replaced on Scott Street in Buffalo and it can process twice as much raw milk. It also has eight filling lines, more automation and more modern and updated quality and environmental controls that, combined with the merger of the Upstate Farms and Niagara Milk cooperatives last July, has boosted efficiency and given the business greater economies of scale.

In all, Upstate’s sales grew by about 9 percent last year to about $500 million. The merger of the two local cooperatives also is creating opportunities for additional growth, with the addition of several new customers responsible for the hiring of 10 workers over the last year.

The products include Upstate’s flagship Bison brand dip, sour cream, cottage cheese, ice cream mix and yogurt products that also are marketed under brand names such as Upstate Farms and Breakstone’s.

The West Seneca, N.Y. plant processes about 110 million pounds of raw milk each year. Much of that milk is turned into sour cream, cottage cheese and dip. But yogurt has emerged as the plant’s fastest growing product, distributed to customers in nearly every state, including Alaska.

St. Albans Loses Certification

News EditorIndustry News, Milk

stalbanslabIt’s a shame to hear this story, St. Albans Cooperative Creamery, Inc. in Vermont, has lost its certification to perform the standard plate count test in its milk lab.

After failing two state evaluations, St. Albans Cooperative Creamery Inc., the largest milk handler in the state, has lost its certification to perform a routine and required milk test, the standard plate count test. The situation has forced the cooperative to ship milk samples out of state for testing since December at a cost of several thousand dollars a month.

Trouble started for the St. Albans lab in September 2005 when the lab was undergoing a routine on-site evaluation by the state, which is conducted every other year. The cooperative failed the raw bacteria count test in the on-site evaluation. Technicians did not perform the test properly, said Wendy Blackman, laboratory evaluation officer with the state Agency of Agriculture’s dairy lab.

That put the lab’s certification for the raw bacteria count into “provisional” status. The lab could continue to perform the test, but a second failure would revoke certification. The lab remained fully certified for all other procedures.

In October 2006, a second required evaluation called a split sample test was done at the lab. The test involves a pool of labs running tests on a milk sample. The results are compared to each other and a control sample, and labs must fall within an appropriate range in their results.

In mid-March, the lab participated in a second split sample test done by the state of Pennsylvania. Results from that test could come back as soon as May. If the results are good, the lab would be returned to provisional status and would no longer have to ship samples to the lab. Full certification could be restored if the lab passes an on-site evaluation scheduled for September.

Dean's Hires New COO

News EditorIce Cream, Industry News

Dean Foods Co. has a created a new vice president and chief operating officer of ice cream position, and Rachel Cullen has been hired to fulfill the position.

Cullen most recently was COO at Englewood, Colo.-based Orange Glo International. She previously has worked at Unilever’s U.S. ice cream division, where she oversaw such brands as Breyers, Klondike, Popsicle and Good Humor. Dean Foods, a Dallas-based dairy products maker, said its annual ice cream sales are nearly $900 million, making it the third-largest ice cream and frozen novelty company in the United States. Alan Bernon, Dean’s dairy group president, said the segment has excellent growth potential.

Wisc. Shines at Cheese Contest

News EditorCheese, Competition

wisccheesewinnersThis is the latest of several releases I’ve posted on U.S. cheesemakers shining in competitions, both domestic and internationally. It leads me to believe – we have some pretty amazing cheesemakers in this country, and that’s something to be mighty proud of! Here, we learn more about the master craftsmen from Wisconsin.

At the March 2007 United States Championship Cheese Contest, the nation’s largest and toughest technical cheesemaking competition, Wisconsin’s Master Cheesemakers were well represented among top-tier winners. These veteran craftsmen have completed the rigorous three-year Wisconsin Master Cheesemaker® training program and, as a result, routinely make a strong showing in national and international competitions.

In total, 12 Wisconsin Masters won 22 awards, and cheeses produced by or with the involvement of Master Cheesemakers won 15 percent of all Best of Class medals at the contest. Sponsored biennially by the Wisconsin Cheesemakers Association, the event this year drew a record 1,158 entries from all across the country.

Wisconsin Master Cheesemakers winning top awards at the 2007 United States Championship Cheese Contest were:

* Ron Buholzer, Klondike Cheese Co., Monroe: Best of Class, Muenster
* Sid Cook, Carr Valley Cheese, La Valle: Best of Class, Vergin Pine Native Sheep; Bronze Award, Cranberry-Chipotle Cheddar; Bronze Award, Applewood Smoked Cheddar; Bronze Award, Snow White Goat; Bronze Award, Black Sheep Truffle; Bronze Award, Cocoa Cardona; Bronze Award, Cave Aged Marisa
* Gary Grossen, Babcock Dairy Plant, Madison: Best of Class, Gouda
* Kerry Henning, Henning’s Cheese, Kiel: Best of Class, Heritage Colby; Best of Class, Tomato Basil Cheddar
* Roger Krohn, Trega Foods, Luxemburg: Bronze Award, Low-Moisture Whole-Milk Mozzarella
* Randy La Grander, La Grander’s Hillside Dairy, Inc., Stanley*: Bronze Award, Colby Longhorn; Bronze Award, Monterey Jack Longhorn
* Terry Lensmire, Trega Foods, Luxemburg: Best of Class, Part-Skim Mozzarella; Best of Class, Provolone
* Jake Niffenegger, Lactalis USA, Belmont*: Bronze Award, Brie
* Myron Olson, Chalet Cheese Co-op, Monroe: Best of Class, Limburger
* Daniel Stearns, Trega Foods, Weyauwega: Best of Class, Mild Cheddar
* Steve Stettler, Decatur Dairy, Brodhead: Bronze Award, Havarti
* Joe Widmer, Widmer’s Cheese Cellars, Theresa*: Bronze Award, Washed-Rind Brick Cheese Cold Pack
* Bob Wills, Cedar Grove Cheese, Plain*: Bronze Award, Pesto Cheddar

* Indicates Masters who participated on winning cheesemaking teams.

Flavor Supports Charity

News EditorIce Cream, Media

bbbsA great promotion for a great charity – Bruster’s Real Ice Cream has created a new parfait flavor to support the charity Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. For every purchase of the flavor during the month of April, the company will donate 25 cents to the charity. Check out the video footage of the promotion being launched.

The new ice cream treat is a light, refreshing parfait made with Bruster’s creamy vanilla ice cream and fresh fruity sorbet made with real fruit.

Subcommittee Hearing on Milk Marketing Orders

News EditorGovernment, Milk, Price

This week, Congressman Leonard Boswell, Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee’s Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy and Poultry, held a hearing to review the Federal Milk Marketing Order rulemaking procedures. The Federal Milk Marketing Orders were established in the 1930’s to make sure that milk, which is a highly perishable product, reached consumers at a fair price and in a time sensitive fashion. Periodically, the Agriculture Committee reviews the order rulemaking procedures to make sure they are keeping up with new product development and dairy production.

“After hearing much of the testimony, there is consensus throughout the dairy industry that the rulemaking procedures take too long. We must ensure that the process is quick and efficient, and represents what the dairy market in 2007 looks like. As we approach the 2007 Farm Bill, we will be looking at different proposals to change the Federal Milk Marketing Order system, perhaps creating a commission to look at ways to streamline the system,” Subcommittee Chairman Boswell said.

“The industry faces some fairly cumbersome hurdles, both administrative and legislative, that only serve to hamper efforts to improve the orders for all participants. It is clear that the government needs to be a facilitator, and not an impediment, to ournation’s dairy farmers and today’s hearing reemphasized that there is a consensus among the industry that more needs to be done. Since dairy is the only Farm Bill program that this subcommittee has jurisdiction over, I look forward to working with them as we move forward in this process,” said Subcommittee Ranking Member Robin Hayes.

Cheese Underground

News EditorCheese

Cheese Underground…what a great name for a blog! While researching the previous post, I discovered that Wisconsin artisan cheesemakers have also created their very own blog! Written by Jeanne Carpenter, cheese enthusiast, says that “Wisconsin seems to be a mecca for artisan cheesemakers. Whether it’s a dairy farmer who is building a cheesrie right on the farm, or a couple who have left their professional careers behind to craft a new American Original – I’ve found nearly everyone has an amazing story to tell.” Be sure to check her blog out!

Don’t miss a new opportunity to get the inside scoop on what’s new in Wisconsin’s dairy artisan world. The Cheese Underground is one writer’s experiences of new artisan products crafted by current and the next generation of Wisconsin dairy artisans.