Celebrating 25 years of growth, innovation

Midwest Dairy’s state and corporate board members gathered for the 2025 annual meeting in early April. This two-day event, held in Bloomington, Minnesota, focused on exploring the positive impact of checkoff on the dairy value chain. Attendees engaged with checkoff staff at an interactive trade show, listened to industry speakers and connected with fellow farmers. The theme of the meeting was “Connect and Grow,” and attendance reached its highest level since before the coronavirus pandemic.

Charles Krause, chair of the Midwest Dairy corporate board, began the meeting by celebrating a significant milestone: Midwest Dairy’s 25th anniversary of advocating for dairy farms. He reflected on how, over the past 25 years, Midwest Dairy has successfully built trust and increased demand for dairy products through innovative promotion strategies. Krause also celebrated the contributions of past checkoff staff, including former CEOs and farmers who have held the chair position before him.

Over two days, several presenters engaged with farmers on a range of topics. Midwest Dairy’s Lela Fausze delivered a presentation titled, “From Global to Local: Navigating the Landscape of Sustainable Nutrition.” During her session, attendees explored key trends shaping food systems, sustainability and dairy’s significant role in nourishing communities.

Chris Urban of Dairy Management Inc. delivered a keynote titled, “Modern Wellness—Dairy for the Win.” He offered fresh insights into dairy’s evolving role in consumer wellness and highlighted DMI’s strategic initiatives. Board members were also given an insider’s look at innovative developments within various dairy food categories.

On the second day of the meeting, Dr. Oral Capps Jr., executive professor at Texas A&M University, delivered an in-depth analysis of the dairy checkoff’s economic impact. His data-rich presentation gave attendees a clear understanding of the value generated from checkoff investments.

Midwest Dairy staff demonstrated how their checkoff dollars are being used during the trade show. This event enabled attendees and staff to connect through themes, booths and activities that showcased Midwest Dairy’s successes in 2024.

Some of my favorite booths included one that allowed farmers to create their own cheesy concoctions for a restaurant menu, showcasing innovations in dairy ingredients.

A STEM booth included a classroom experiment in which students identified milk from different animals. Cow milk was included in a lineup of three kinds of milk, and farmers were challenged to pick the right mason jar containing cows’ milk.

I particularly enjoyed the influencer booth, too, which had a flashy display that was recently used to engage consumers during a Big 12 athletic event.

Lastly, the thought leader booth was quite popular. Dairy farmers played an interactive “Family Feud” style game where they matched dairy farming practices with sustainability terminology to learn how Midwest Dairy thought leader partners share the dairy farm story with others.

As part of the trade show, attendees also participated in a community giving project by creating birthday banners and cards for the Confetti Foundation. The foundation aims to provide birthday parties for children spending their birthdays in hospitals, pediatric oncology clinics or hospice facilities. Over 20 banners and dozens of birthday cards were created during the event. We also included Undeniably Dairy-branded coloring books in the final package for these children as a fun way to represent the farmers who were supporting them.

We concluded the event with a celebratory lunch recognizing retiring board members. Those in attendance to be celebrated included Dough Carrol, Gerrit Davelaar and Dan Dietzenbach from Iowa and Allen Merrill from South Dakota. Thank you to these farmers and the other retirees for their years of service and impact on the dairy industry.

The 2025 annual meeting provided an opportunity for farmers to celebrate the achievements of 2024 and kick off 2025 on a strong note as we continue our efforts to advance the dairy industry.

Thank you to all the board members who joined us in Minnesota. As we begin another year of driving dairy trust and sales in the marketplace, there is renewed optimism for growth and innovation in the dairy industry. With increasing consumer demand and a commitment to sustainability, we are excited to see dairy flourish in the eyes of consumers in the coming year.