The Dairy Research Institute (DRI) is making a difference in driving innovations and demand for dairy products and ingredients both in the United States and in an increasingly competitive global market.

“We’re seeing whey proteins put in more products and at higher amounts than we ever have,” says DRI president Greg Miller. “It’s helping the export market because we have more claims that we can make about dairy proteins and their impact on body composition. We’re helping the industry formulate new products like the Slim Fast with whey protein, you know, the Gatorade bars that have whey protein in them. We’re helping the artisan cheese industry flourish, and we’re selling lots of milk in to artisanal cheese now. The product research area’s doing a great job.”

According to Arizona producer Paul Rovey, the vision for DRI when it was established in 2010 was to provide a scientific basis for the value of dairy products. “DRI is a function of working with partners, bringing money together so that those dollars are spent in a very focused, strategic way. Instead of everybody spending their money out in different directions and not having quite as big an effect – we have more, bigger, faster research that really drives the information and drives the change in how we can present dairy and our information about dairy,” Rovey says.

The Institute was established under the leadership of America’s dairy farmers through Dairy Management Inc.™ (DMI), the nonprofit organization that manages the producer checkoff program.