Annual meetings highlight new dairy opportunities, consumer-driven strategies and measurable growth across unified promotion efforts.
The United Dairy Industry of Michigan (UDIM) and Florida Dairy Farmers (FDF) brought dairy leaders together at their annual meetings this spring to spotlight a year of measurable progress, strategic alignment and growing consumer impact — demonstrating how the unified organizations are building deep roots to drive a smarter, bolder future for the dairy industry.
“The right partnerships serve as strong roots,” says Melissa Gerharter, UDIM and FDF CEO. “In the past year, we’ve made tremendous progress merging two organizations across the country, creating immediate efficiencies that allow us to put more resources into the market on behalf of dairy farmers. We’re reaching consumers more strategically, guided by science, metrics and the right tools to deliver our message in smarter, bolder ways.
“Through the combined organization, we identified over $1 million in efficiencies that we put back into the Florida market, while maintaining effective and impactful programs in Michigan,” says Gerharter. “This, to me, is the epitome of staying rooted, but looking at a bold future.”
Dairy on the menu
A key focus was dairy’s evolving role in health, nutrition and public policy, particularly in schools. Updates on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs) and new school milk allowances signal meaningful progress for dairy’s place in federal nutrition programs.
“The alignment of the 16 federal feeding programs with the DGAs through rulemaking is significant,” notes Katie Brown, National Dairy Council President and Executive Vice President of Nutrition, Regulatory and Sustainability Affairs for Dairy Management Inc., the national dairy checkoff.
“Schools now have more flexibility to offer low-fat and whole milk,” she adds. “This opens the door to keeping nutritious milk options available to students.”
Consumer behavior data further reinforces the opportunity ahead. With billions of daily health-related searches, and a surge in interest around metabolic and cardiometabolic health, parents and consumers are actively seeking credible nutrition guidance.
To meet this demand, UDIM and FDF are prioritizing partnerships and programs that amplify credible voices and connect dairy’s benefits to today’s most relevant health conversations.
Dairy online, in schools and more
Additional annual meeting highlights include:
- Dairy promotion momentum
- A new Smart Swaps initiative has been developed for school nutrition professionals, featuring tools, training and 25+ kid-tested recipes designed to help schools meet evolving meal standards while appealing to students’ changing taste preferences.
- The highly successful physician education program has expanded to Florida, bringing new research, tools and resources to healthcare professionals and their patients in Michigan and Florida.
- Efforts to reach Hispanic consumers, especially in Florida, are increasing. Reaching this rapidly growing segment with messaging about “local fresh, local farms” is quickly gaining momentum.
- Online dairy sales climb even higher
- In 2025, checkoff-funded digital promotions helped generate more than $7.6 million in dairy sales through online grocery platforms, with efforts continuing to build demand in 2026.
- Dairy partnerships revamped
- The checkoff is building on partnerships with colleges, universities and professional sports teams across Michigan and Florida, as well as organizations such as SeaWorld Orlando and Walt Disney World. These efforts offer a renewed focus on programs that clearly drive higher dairy consumption.
The meetings underscored a clear theme: when grounded in data, strengthened by partnerships and aligned with consumer needs, dairy is well-positioned to boldly grow its relevance and impact in an increasingly complex marketplace.
“How we show up and adapt to meet our consumers in the ever-changing marketplace is truly what sets us apart,” says Gerharter.
For more information about FDF and UDIM, visit floridamilk.com and milkmeansmore.org.
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