For nearly 18 months, Dairy Management Inc., (DMI), dairy farmers’ national checkoff organization, has been working intensely to find the

solution to declining fluid milk sales, with a broad base of dairy industry support. DMI has concluded that the solutions include addressing innova-tion and identifing opportunities for growth. During this time, DMI staff met with 50 companies and nearly 200 leaders from cooperatives, processors, retailers and suppliers on behalf of dairy farmers across the nation to compile strategies for rejuvenating fluid milk consumption. “Through their checkoff, the nation’s dairy farmers have the power to innovate, change and grow sales and trust,” said Tom Gallagher, CEO of DMI. “While it’s difficult to imagine one person affecting demand for their product, through the checkoff they have a voice, a very loud voice that can dominate the marketplace.” Increasing Demand

Continued on Page 4

Rejuvinating fluid milk for today’s consumerINCREASING CONSUMER DEMAND FOR DAIRY

Dairy farm familiesof the Southeast

Dairy Promotion News

January 2014

This past December 9, the National Dairy Council (NDC), National Foot-

ball League (NFL), GENYOUth Founda-tion, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Education renewed their $250 million public-private pledge to the Fuel Up To Play 60 (FUTP60) program; the nation’s premier school health and wellness-based program funded by dairy farmers. The event took place at Pulaski Inter-national School in Chicago and in ad-dition to partners, program advocates and students, special guests included NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, 16th

Surgeon General David Satcher, M.D., National Dairy Council Chairman and dairy farmer Jerry Messer and Dairy Management Inc. CEO Tom Gallagher. Five years ago, dairy farmers and the NDC teamed up with the NFL and oth-ers to empower students to make their schools healthier with the FUTP60 program. Since its’ beginning, the pro-gram has reached 38 million students in 73,000 schools, encouraging them to choose good-for-you foods, including milk, cheese and yogurt and to get 60 minutes of play a day. For more information, visit the Fuel Up to Play 60 site at southeastdairy.org.

Fuel Up to Play 60 founding organizations renew commitment to students

With the extension of the Fuel Up To Play 60 partnership for an additional five years, schools across the Southeast will continue to learn about the benefits of dairy products like milk, cheese and yogurt in a healthy diet.

New year brings something old, something new

As I celebrate 25 years with SUDIA and my ninth year

as your General Manager, I am more excited than ever before about dairy promotion and the work that SUDIA staff are doing on your behalf. While we continue to have challenges in our Southeast mar-ketplace, especially for fluid milk sales and consumption, there are major opportunities that promo-

tion is addressing to grow dairy sales for the benefit of dairy farmers. You will see in the accompanying article the depth and breadth of the national work going on to rejuvenate fluid milk and make it a “go to” beverage for today’s consumers and all their particular wants and needs. On the local level, we will continue success-ful fluid milk programs and develop some new ones. We will continue and expand the many school programs we conduct promot-ing fluid milk and also explore new ones, such as school supper programs and coffee/latte bars. Staff will be working in a more focused way with our Southeast processors to identify and target their customers with innovative milk products.

GENERAL MANAGERS UPDATE

Cheryl HaynSUDIA General

Manager

Milk programmingContinued on Page 2

DAIRY Promotion News

The National Football League is in full swing as teams are in postseason with Fuel Up to Play 60

(FUTP60) promotion segments during primetime football games. In partnership with the dairy farmer funded FUTP60 program, the Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Pan-thers, New Orleans Saints and Tennessee Titans, are continuing to work with SUDIA staff to help schools kick-off the second half of the school year by encour-aging students to remain healthy and active by staying in the game and fueling up with dairy. In only three short years, FUTP60 in the SUDIA region has reached a number of important milestones, including: • 2.6 million students are now eating healthier and are more physically active • 2.4 million students are now eating breakfast at

school that includes milk, cheese and yogurt Through the NFL partnership, Southeast

schools receive grants enabling them to grow their FUTP60 program. These funds are used to help expand programs that increase dairy consumption in schools, such as breakfast programs. As part of the FUTP60 program, schools are en-couraged to establish physical activity plans where students are active for at least 60 minutes each day and nutrition initiatives that include dairy products, throughout the school year. All schools receive assis-tance from SUDIA staff in developing dairy-focused nutrition programs and are able to apply for grants that assist in the purchase of dairy equipment, includ-ing meal vending machines, Vitamix blenders, milk coolers, etc. To inspire students to eat well-balanced diets that include three daily servings of dairy, SUDIA has worked with Southeast schools to implement break-fast and nutrition programs that continue to help increase future dairy consumers. For more information, contact Molly Szymanski at mszymanski@sedairy.org or 1-800-343-4693.

Spotlighting schools in the Southeast:

FUTP60 program advisor Mary Shalvey of Brawley Elementary in Charlotte has helped increase milk, cheese and yogurt sales at the school through the

FUTP60 program. In addition, Shalvey increased FUTP60 participa-

tion by creating a fitness program called “Interactive Health,” where students learn how to incorporate

lifetime fitness skills into everyday use.

Families across the nation are plugging into the ex-panding world of technology and grasping a wealth

of information. Dairygood.org is quickly becoming the positive re-source for families to gain knowledge about the dairy industry and just where their food comes from. Highlighting dairy farm families from across the nation and most recently, several Southeast farm families, the site is useful for keeping up on the latest news about the dairy indus-try. Families are directed to national stories about important topics such as lactose intolerance or the way retailers are partnering with the dairy industry to boost milk consumption. For dairy farmers, the site is a valuable tool to find and participate in news and conversations that could

impact the dairy industry. Maintained by the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, an organization sponsored by Dairy Management

Inc., dairygood.org shines a spotlight on how dairy farmers contribute to pro-moting healthy lifestyles, healthy communities and a healthy planet through their stewardship of their cows and their land. Visitors to the site can learn the science behind how dairy is the missing link to a healthy diet and its importance in children’s nutrition. The site also serves as a resource for those who want to learn how dairy farmers use sus-tainable and green technol-ogy to protect the environ-ment.

For more information, visit dairygood.org or south-eastdairy.org.

Georgia dairy farmer Judd Chambers was at his son’s football practice recently when an old friend ap-

proached him in disbelief. Chambers’ son had just endured a grueling practice under the hot Georgia sun and was enjoying a cold bottle of chocolate milk. “He told me my son needs to

be drinking water,” Cham-bers said. “I said ‘not now. He needs to be replenishing.’ ”

Research supports the role of chocolate milk as a recovery drink for athletes following a workout, practice or game and many coaches are taking notice. Dairy farmers and SU-DIA staff are helping middle and high school athletes across the Southeast gain better access to nutrient-rich chocolate milk through the Coolers for Coaches program.

Southeast schools can apply

for a grant to obtain a milk cooler through SUDIA’s Coolers for Coach-es program. Since it began in 2010, more than 500 schools have received milk cool-ers through grants from SUDIA. Dairy farmers like Chambers and Michael Ferguson of Mississippi serve as community ambassadors for the Coolers for Coaches program, highlighting the benefits of choco-late milk to community leaders and athletic departments. “We as dairy farmers have always known we produce nature’s most perfect food,” said Ferguson. “To have that play into something I’m so passionate about – high school sports and children’s health – is something money can’t buy. That’s why we do what we do, to have that satisfaction knowing we can make a difference.” For more information about SU-DIA’s Coolers for Coaches program, contact Jill Henderson at jillhenderson@sedairy.org or 1-800-343-4693.

Southeast dairy farmers help increase ‘Coolers for Coaches’ visibility in schools

School athletic departments across the Southeast are helping students fill up with chocolate milk after workouts. This unit was placed in Elmore County High School in Eclec-tic, Ala. and is being used by the schools’ baseball team.

Dairygood.org continues to gain momentum in increasing consumer confidence in dairy products

NFL teams enter post-season, work with SUDIA to highlight Fuel Up to Play 60

Dairygood.org brings all things dairy to consumers and dairy farmers across the country. The website is brought to you by the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy on behalf of America’s dairy farmers and the dairy industry.

The Coolers for Coaches program continues to grow

and flourish. Since it began in 2010, more than 500 schools have

received milk coolers through

grants from SUDIA.

Assistant football coach Gary Terry and senior members of the Anderson County High School football team in Clinton, Tenn., participate in SUDIA’s Coolers for Coaches program. Coach Terry encourages athletes to drink chocolate milk, helping them recover from strenuous workouts and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Milk ProgrammingFrom on Page 1

North Carolina students enjoy a fun-filled day during the 2013 Student Ambassador Summit and Training Camp held in Charlotte this past summer. Through the NFL partnership, Southeast schools are able to expand programs that increase dairy consumption through Fuel Up To Play 60 grants, scholarships and cash prizes.

In a new effort, we will be motivating consumers to do a good turn and buy an extra gallon of milk to donate to a local Feeding America food bank. We will develop a comprehensive sports marketing program for flavored milk and roll it out to colleges and universities. We will be working hand-in-hand with the processors’ checkoff program, MilkPEP, to extend retail milk promotions around breakfast, a huge opportunity for fluid milk.

We will do all this and much more by incorporating your story about how milk is produced, and your commit-ment to the quality of your milk , to the health of your cows, and to the sustainability of your land.Yes, I am excited about dairy promotion in 2014! Be-tween continuing programs that worked well in 2013, and adventuring into new arenas this new year, I am optimistic about the future of dairy sales.

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Visit Us ONLINE. DMI and its national partners had success with short-term goals during 2013: • The Quaker Oats “Make it with Milk” promotion increased fluid milk sales by 5 percent in partici-pating Safeway and Kroger stores. • The partnership with McDon-ald’s has become the model for other checkoff partnerships. DMI provides expert staff in food sci-ence, sustainability, nutrition and schools at McDonald’s headquar-ters, resulting in billions of pounds of additional sales. • The Fuel Up to Play 60 program aggressively focused on breakfast, driving incremental fluid milk consumption in schools across the nation. • Since the start of the partner-ship with Domino’s in 2009, 10 bil-lion pounds of additional milk have moved through the pizza category, stimulating dairy consumption and encouraging Pizza Hut and other potential partners to work with us. • During 2013, Taco Bell estimat-ed that it would move 1.7 billion

pounds of milk. Moving forward in 2014, they’re projecting to use 2 billion pounds. Its parent com-pany, YUM Brands, has asked DMI to look across all of its businesses: KFC, Pizza Hut and Wingstreet, to provide counsel on developing a strategic nutrition approach for its menus. In addition to a $13 million investment from DMI, the dairy checkoff has brought in another $75 million of funding from gov-ernment grants, companies and countries. “That $88 million goes to dairy centers and land grant universities to accelerate important research, such as the value of milk in a diet,” said Gallagher. In partnering with DMI, compa-nies like McDonald’s will extend its dairy presence with the innovation of dairy menu items that include milk, cheese, yogurt and dairy ingredients. For more information, contact Amanda Trice at atrice@sedairy.org or 1-800-343-4693.

Increasing DemandFrom on Page 1