Dairy Management, Inc. is gearing up to work on consumer sales according to the latest news out of their annual meeting in San Francisco. As the headline says, ““It’s not enough to build demand. Producers demand that we build sales.”

Dairy promotion’s 2006 industry vision will help U.S. dairy producers grow their businesses by working to convert milk into products consumers really want, said Tom Gallagher, chief executive officer of Dairy Management Inc.™ (DMI), which manages the national dairy checkoff program. Gallagher spoke with more than 1,000 dairy producers and other industry representatives attending the 2005 National Dairy Board/United Dairy Industry Association/National Milk Producers Federation Joint Annual Meeting in San Francisco. Much of today’s dairy industry is production-driven, as opposed to consumer-driven, and thereby ignores unmet demand, Gallagher said. Total growth of dairy in traditional forms – such as white milk in gallons, American-style cheeses sold domestically, and mozzarella – will grow only slightly over the long haul.

“This depicts current dairy sales in a production-driven industry. The problem is, this approach ignores POTENTIAL sales,” Gallagher said, adding that the industry must define the market by what consumers want.

If you want more information about the meeting and the dairy checkoff visit Dairy Checkoff Works.