What 25 Years with Checkoff Has Taught Me

 

As I retire from Dairy Management Inc., I have found myself reflecting on just how much the past 25 years have meant to me.

I have had opportunities I never could have imagined when I started, worked alongside remarkable people and witnessed tremendous change across the industry.

But what I value most are the relationships I built with farmers and the opportunity to spend my career supporting an industry that means so much to so many families.

I have had the privilege of meeting thousands of farmers. I have visited farms, sat around kitchen tables, attended many meetings and listened to farmers talk about their businesses, their families and their hopes for the future.

Those conversations shaped how I approached this work.

They also reinforced something I have always believed: The farmer perspective must remain at the center of the checkoff. This organization exists because of farmers and their fingerprints should be visible in the work we do and the choices we make.

That responsibility has never been lost on me.

Farmers and importers invest their money in the checkoff and rightly expect us to be disciplined with it. They expect us to focus on areas where we can make a difference, demonstrate results and be willing to change when something isn’t working.

The checkoff’s mission has remained constant throughout my career, but how we build dairy demand has changed dramatically.

We have evolved from relying heavily on traditional advertising to working throughout the marketplace. Today, that means partnering with major foodservice companies and retailers, investing in nutrition and product research, helping develop new dairy products and ingredients, reaching consumers through digital channels and building markets for U.S. dairy around the world.

Through all that change, I have learned a few lessons that I hope remain in place.

Relationships matter. The trust we have built with farmers, customers, health professionals, foodservice companies, researchers and other partners is among our most valuable assets.

Focus matters, too. The strongest work happens when we have the courage to decide what matters most and put our energy and resources behind it.

And collaboration matters. I am proud of the progress we have made in bringing the checkoff enterprise together around shared priorities. We accomplish far more when national and local organizations work together, scale what works and move in the same direction.

There is good reason for optimism as I look at dairy today.

Consumers are increasingly interested in protein, nutrition and foods that deliver meaningful health and wellness benefits, and dairy is positioned to meet those needs. We continue to see innovation in cheese, cultured products, beverages and ingredients. Investment in processing capacity continues, and global markets offer opportunities to reach more people with U.S. dairy.

There will be challenges as there always are.

The checkoff cannot control milk prices, input costs, regulation or other forces that affect a farmer’s bottom line. What it can do is remain relentlessly focused on building demand, supporting innovation, investing in science, developing markets and strengthening consumer trust.

That work requires patience. Some results come quickly, while others take years. But building long-term demand has always been the reason farmers created the checkoff in the first place.

My hope for the future is that the people entrusted with this work continue to listen to farmers and importers, stay curious and keep asking whether there is a better way. The dairy industry will continue to change, and the checkoff must change with it.

I leave incredibly proud of what we have built and confident in new CEO Corey Scott and the team who will carry this work forward.

But more than anything, I leave grateful.

Thank you to the farmers who welcomed me onto their farms, shared their perspectives, challenged our thinking and trusted me to help lead the checkoff. Serving you has been one of the great privileges of my life.

After 25 years, there are many things I could say as I leave. But the most important is also the simplest.

Thank you.

To learn more about your national dairy checkoff, visit DairyCheckoff.com or to reach us directly, send an email.