Phoenix – In her keynote speech today at Dairy Forum 2010, Connie Tipton,
president and CEO of the International Dairy Foods Association, called for
industry involvement, innovation and unity as the best ways to combat a sluggish
economy and unleash the industry’s potential for growth and success. Tipton
addressed a record crowd of dairy producers, processors, suppliers and other
industry participants gathered at the Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa in Phoenix
this week for the 25th annual Dairy Forum.
Touching first on the dramatic changes emerging from the Obama administration
and Congress, Tipton warned that a flood of new regulations, taxes and mandates
may soon become laws of the land. From health care to food safety, nutrition to
cap-and-trade, the industry needs to oppose unnecessary regulations or
unjustified fees that will add costs to production without providing benefits to
dairy consumers, she said.
“There are businesses and industries that simply cannot weather additional costs
in an increasingly competitive and regulated marketplace,” Tipton said. “Our
industry is not immune to these risks. So we have a real stake in what comes out
of this very political process in Washington.”
Tipton also pointed out that the past year of “devastating milk prices,”
dropping export levels and consumer belt tightening clearly showed that the
“so-called safety net programs for our dairymen” don’t work in today’s market
economy.
She offered highlights from a comprehensive plan for reformatting dairy policies
and programs put forth by Jerry Kozak, president of the National Milk Producers
Federation. Acknowledging that the plan would affect different businesses in
different ways, Tipton encouraged industry leaders to abandon the status quo and
give the plan serious consideration.
By doing so, she added, “The U.S. dairy industry has a chance in 2010 to
re-chart its future, to build a better, stronger, more cohesive community,
energized at last by genuine teamwork and breakthrough thinking.”
Another lesson the industry learned last year, Tipton said, is that it must
listen closely to consumers and provide innovative ideas, products, ingredients
and packaging to meet their needs.
“Fundamental to our success will be how well we compete for the consumers’
palate – at home and around the globe. We need more people eating dairy and
choosing dairy ingredients – and that means we’d better know what consumers are
thinking and what’s tickling their taste buds,” she said.
She concluded with a call for industry leaders to confront the current policy
climate and all industry challenges with resolve and teamwork.
“It’s the only way we can progress, the only way we can win, the only way we can
realize the kind of success we all know is possible – the success that is within
our grasp,” she said.
The full text of Tipton’s speech is available here.
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The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA), Washington, DC, represents the
nation’s dairy manufacturing and marketing industries and their suppliers, with
a membership of 550 companies representing a $110-billion a year industry. IDFA
is composed of three constituent organizations: the Milk Industry Foundation (MIF),
the National Cheese Institute (NCI) and the International Ice Cream Association
(IICA). IDFA’s 220 dairy processing members run more than 600 plant operations,
and range from large multi-national organizations to single-plant companies.
Together they represent more than 85 percent of the milk, cultured products,
cheese and frozen desserts produced and marketed in the United States.