A reporter not long ago was in search of an expert to interview about wine and cheese pairings.
The dairy checkoff has a guy. In fact, it’s Chad “The Cheese Guy” Galer.
Thus, he was quoted extensively in a story titled “The Wine Pairing Mistake You May Be Making With Fresh Cheese” in Mashed, a go-to outlet for foodies or anyone seeking culinary insights.
This is one way the checkoff engages with the media reactively. DMI was contacted by the reporter, we examined the pros and cons of the opportunity and agreed to proceed. We then worked with Chad to make sure his messaging was on point.
Requests such as this happen frequently at DMI, and the team weighs each opportunity and the best course of action. Many requests are a good fit, while we sometimes pass on others or redirect reporters to a more appropriate organization, such as the National Milk Producers Federation for all policy-related topics.
We also have a proactive side to our strategy, which begins with an overview of the stories we seek to tell through the media. We discover the best farmer stories with support from our state and regional checkoff network, as well as examine the latest dairy-focused health and wellness research conducted through National Dairy Council.
We then create a “pitch” where we seek to entice a reporter into writing the story. Sometimes, the reporter doesn’t bite but many times we have piqued enough interest and landed solid stories that educate on dairy and dairy farming.
Our proactive work entails identifying media outlets with the strongest audience of thought leader and consumer readers. These are the newspapers, magazine and television programs that hold great potential of moving the consumer trust needle for dairy.
The strategy focuses on two areas: the many ways farmers contribute to and enhance sustainable food systems and dairy’s various health and wellness benefits. A growing number of people are interested in planetary and personal health, and media outlets are eager to deliver content to their audiences.
Dairy, obviously, checks many boxes in both instances.
Take cow poop, for example.
We contacted a Forbes reporter who has an interest in the environment and sustainable practices. We’re fortunate to have numerous farmers to choose from but we zeroed in on Pennsylvania producer Brent Reinford, a winner of the 2018 U.S. Dairy Sustainability Awards presented through the farmer-
funded Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy. The dairy won for its various practices that are good for the earth but its contributions to reducing food waste may have put it over the top with judges.
Reinford works with grocery stores to accept expired and spoiled food that is processed through the farm’s digester along with manure from 700-plus cows. This results in the dairy producing electricity to power the farm and many homes, while diverting waste from landfills.
The Forbes reporter was all in and it resulted in this headline: “Food Waste Kept Out Of Landfills And Turned Into Electricity At Family Farms.” Stories in a respected outlet such as this go a long way to grow dairy awareness and dispel myths perpetuated by anti-animal-agriculture groups.
Farming holds appeal with reporters who are no different than the average consumer in being generations removed from food production. Ideally, we would love for every reporter to visit a dairy, but their budgetary and deadline constraints often prohibit this from happening.
When farm visits can be arranged, you see the reporter’s eyes open to the beauty of farming, its vast sophistication and the overwhelming amount of attention to detail required to make it run smoothly.
Farmers always will be at the top of our list to speak with reporters, but the checkoff is fortunate to have a deep bench of experts to call upon.
National Dairy Council has doctorate-level experts who can speak to checkoff-led research and understanding the many ways dairy benefits health and wellness across the lifespan.
We also have expertise in cow biology and animal health and people deeply engaged in on-farm sustainability-focused research. We have teams that study consumer trends and we use sound data points to refute the “dairy is dying” narrative that sometimes persists.
Sure, there are times when things don’t go as planned. Mistakes can be printed, biases may come through and things may be taken out of context and misrepresented.
But working with reporters is a necessary strategy for any industry or organization seeking to keep its name top of mind with consumers, and the checkoff is plenty prepared to share dairy’s good news with them.
To learn more about your national dairy checkoff, visit www.USDairy.com/forfarmers or to reach us directly, send an email to TalkToTheCheckoff@dairy.org.
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