While the Dairy Strong Conference is still quite new to the dairy industry, occurring for only the second time in 2016, it is already making a widespread impact across the community. Over 600 dairy industry professionals from 17 US states and five different countries traveled to this week’s conference, which was held in Madison, Wisconsin.

Dairy Strong is hosted by the Dairy Business Association (DBA), a nonprofit organization of Wisconsin dairy farmers, milk processors, vendors and business partners working to build and maintain a sustainable future for the incredibly valuable Wisconsin dairy industry.

Tim Trotter, DBA executive director, sat down for an interview during the event. “The conference is really meant to bring all the players in the industry together to really talk about innovative ways that we can add value to the dairy industry,” he said, “It’s really about collaboration. This is not meant to be a DBA event, it’s meant to be an industry event, and we have people here from all walks of life in the dairy industry.”

This year’s event was both progressive and innovative; attendees were offered fresh, diverse perspectives and ample opportunities to engage in productive dialogue.

Several keynote speakers presented at the event, offering attendees insight, ideas, and perspective from outside of the agriculture community. The impressive roster of speakers included New York Times best-selling author, Grammy-nominated comedian and actor Jim Gaffigan, and Jonathan Perelman, former vice president of BuzzFeed Motion Pictures, and the former global lead for industry relations at Google.

Different breakout sessions and panel discussions were also held throughout the three-day conference, discussing topics that ranged from investments and finances to breakthrough research in dairy technology. The conference concluded with a diverse panel discussion of food industry professionals as part of the Food Dialogues national outreach program by the United States Farmers and Ranchers Alliance (USFRA). Discussion focused on sustainability, and how the term relates to both consumers and producers.

“This began as a local event, but it’s already grown into an international one, and I think it’s because people really see that Wisconsin’s dairy industry is so unique,” said Trotter, “Everything we need to really take dairy to the next level is in Wisconsin. We have a really integrated industry, and if it can happen anywhere, it can happen in Wisconsin.”

Listen to Lizzy’s full interview with Tim here:
Interview with Tim Trotter, Dairy Business Association