This episode was recorded at the 2025 Western Dairy Management Conference in Reno, Nevada. Stan begins with an overview of the dairy checkoff since its inception in 1983. At that time, dairy farmers were producing 139 billion pounds of milk, but only 122 million pounds were being consumed. Dairy promotion has evolved to focus on research and education about nutrition, crisis management and even partnerships with Domino’s, Taco Bell and McDonald’s. (3:02)
This episode was recorded at the 2025 Western Dairy Management Conference in Reno, Nevada.
Stan begins with an overview of the dairy checkoff since its inception in 1983. At that time, dairy farmers were producing 139 billion pounds of milk, but only 122 million pounds were being consumed. Dairy promotion has evolved to focus on research and education about nutrition, crisis management and even partnerships with Domino’s, Taco Bell and McDonald’s. (3:02)
Stan and Marty detail some of the national and regional partnerships around dairy menu options. Walt notes that the grilled cheese burrito from Taco Bell is one of his son’s favorite fast food meals. The panel discusses some of the strategy behind the Taco Bell partnership as well as marketing to Gen Z consumers about how dairy fits into mind and body wellness. (6:39)
Walt comments the checkoff has done and is continuing to do a great job of being future-ready. He remembers a few years ago hearing about the gaming generation and partnerships with Mr. Beast and YouTube and embedding cows in Minecraft, and now his sons are playing Minecraft and gaming and are on YouTube. (13:43)
Stan notes in 1995, exports were at 3%. That has now increased to 16-17%. Marty gives some examples of partnerships with the Dallas Cowboys and HEB stores in Mexico to promote dairy. (16:09)
The panel discusses the US investments in processing, the “Dairy Renaissance”, research into dairy-as-medicine, and continued product innovations to meet consumer demands. (23:24)
Marty and Stan detail the agreement between the Dairy Checkoff and Mayo Clinic investigating the role of whole milk foods in treating and preventing cardiovascular and metabolic disease. (34:04)
Panelists share their take-home thoughts. (37:51)
You can find more information about the dairy checkoff at https://www.dairycheckoff.com/
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Scott (00:07):
Good evening everyone, and welcome to the Real Science Exchange, the pubcast where leading scientists and industry professionals meet over a few drinks to discuss the latest ideas and trends in animal nutrition. Um, hi, my name is Scott Sorrel. I'm gonna be your host tonight. And in the copilot seat is Walt Cooley from Progressive Dairy Magazine. Welcome Walt. And my special guest is, is, is an old friend Stan. We've known each other for quite a while. Stan's with DMI and, uh, Stan. We, we, we build this thing is taking place in a pub and that, that it's always happy hour here, but we're kind of putting that to the test today. Right? I mean, we're, we're in Reno, Nevada. It's 6 45 in the morning, and so I guess it is happy hour 'cause what's in your glass this morning
Stan Erwine (00:48):
And, and hence a bloody Mary
Scott (00:53):
Milk as well.
Stan Erwine (00:54):
Absolutely, Scott, thank you
Scott (00:56):
You're very welcome. Um, Stan, uh, you also brought a guest with you to the pub tonight. Would you mind introducing him? Yes. Well first introduce yourself, right? Okay. Yes. And then introduce your guest,
Stan Erwine (01:06):
Uh, Stan Irwin. I lead our farmer relations team at Dairy Management Incorporated, which is the National Checkoff Organization. Yeah. And we talked, we'll cover a little bit, uh, about what is the checkoff, but, uh, the guest, uh, Marty McKenzie, who's the Chief Operations Officer for Dairy Max, which is one of our state and regional organizations, because we're a, uh, mixed in a collaboration of a national organization with one plan that is then carried out through local organizations. Because as you know, Scott Walt, you know, um, how regional and how different dairy is around the country, and how dairy farms, uh, are individual.
Scott (01:46):
Excellent. So why don't we just stand, just kinda start at the beginning. Um, what is checkoff off?
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Stan Erwine (03:02):
Well, thank you very much because I think we learned a couple of meetings we have. We're very aware, but the checkoff has grown to the point that we need to just begin at the beginning. And so the checkoff was created in 1983. It was created by Farmers for Farmers. Uh, it is a self-help program to help drive sales consumption and an increasingly consumer trust in dairy. Let's go back to 19 83, 84. Why, uh, that point in time, and we learned this here, you know, this Walt, with the work you do with your magazine, our dairy farmers are very efficient. They're very good at producing more milk. Well go back to 1983. We found ourselves in a position where the farmers were producing 139 billion pounds of milk. Only 122 billion of it was being consumed. So hence the need for a program and the development of a 15 cent per hundred weight checkoff that goes into a promotional kitty that is used to, again, promote dairy, but doing it a nickel of it goes to the National Dairy Board. And our work, whether it be with the National Dairy Council, the research and education arm on the nutrition side, or what we do in crisis management, uh, and issues, and Marty, we should probably talk about that at some point. Uh, and then our work with, uh, partners, uh, whether it be Dominoes, uh, taco Bell, um, McDonald's, uh, to, to drive sales through, you know, uh, local, uh, restaurants, you know, McDonald's, 14,000 locations. Uh, 80% of their menu is dairy. Uh, and they advertise to a tune of about every, what is it?
Scott (04:54):
Say that again. 80%,
Stan Erwine (04:55):
80% of their menu has dairy.
Scott (04:57):
Is that right?
Stan Erwine (04:58):
So you look at going through retail, and this was all a shift in the plan from when we were an advertising company. Everybody would remember got milk, got milk was iconic. It was, it made us feel good. But the end of the day, the farmers who direct us said, this is fine. Um, but it's not changing the trajectory of dairy sales.
Scott (05:20):
It wasn't, it wasn't working. People know
Stan Erwine (05:22):
It. No, it may, it made us feel good. Yeah. And that's a good message we've gotten out, but people now understand. Yeah. Uh, but that's when we made the shift to working with partners. Mm-hmm
Marty McKinzie (05:31):
You know, Stan, I think the, the importance of, of that collaboration and working outside of ourselves and, and the, the partnership with, with, with, uh, those, those groups you talked about are extremely important. Uh, you know, beyond that, I think it's, it's, it's partnerships within the industry too. I mean, so many, so many of our partners like Walt and Progressive Dairymen and, and our state, you know, state dairy associations and others contribute, you know, in, in ways that, that we can, in furthering the message and the work that we do. A lot of that goes back to consumer trust and, uh, actions on the farm, you know, production practices and better understanding those and, and doing those. So that's not as frequently talked about, but I think the relationships that exist there are equally as important as some of the more pro higher profile things like McDonald's and Domino's that really drive sales. There's trust and sales and, and we work equally in, in both areas. Oftentimes.
Scott (06:33):
Well, let me circle back real quick. Sorry. How many partners do you have? And then what does a partnership look like?
Stan Erwine (06:39):
So, that's a really good question. So a, a, a partnership, when I look at it at the level of a McDonald's at Taco Bell, uh, we continue to do some work with, uh, pizza, particularly in the export markets, uh, driving sales, um, taco Bell, McDonald's, dominoes. Uh, there's some others in the wings that we're continuing to look at, uh, particularly the chicken category, uh, raising Canes. Um, but I think the other part of it when we look at Part Partners is partnering with, or other organizations, whether it be Us Deck, uh, whether it be, you know, uh, our media partners. Um, I think the other point too would be the continued evolution of the checkoff, which Walt, you know, you're a good partner. You can probably speak to the evolution you've observed, uh, the checkoff over the years. But I also wanna flag for your, for our listeners, um, they can get additional information by going to dairy checkoff.com, and that's a pretty robust site where there is great information to, and anticipates their questions or they can submit additional questions. Marty, anything I would've left out in terms of the partners?
Marty McKinzie (07:56):
I, I don't think so, Stan. Not in the, not in that, that vein, I think there are opportunities, you know, at, at, at a local level, oftentimes yes. 'cause because headquarters of certain, or certain companies may exist within, within the geography of, of our state and state or regions. Uh, for Dairy Max, particularly Smoothie King is, is an example of that. And, and we have, we have initiated a partnership with Smoothie King, and again, a huge focus on, on protein and a lot of their beverages and drinks and menus. Uh, you know, smoothie King is one of the partnerships that we've identified because of the, uh, the prominence and, and importance to the Gen Z uh, you know, gen Z, uh, group.
Scott (08:42):
Just say, uh, with Smoothie King, um, uh, dairy Farmer dollars are going to them, or are we then trying to influence them? Or are they trying to then influence their customers? We, we
Marty McKinzie (08:55):
Are working directly with them to influence, influence their, their menu offering and Got it. The focus on dairy, because again, oftentimes, oftentimes people don't realize that to, to, to elevate the protein in some of those beverages, whey protein is, is an additive. And so there are dairy components too that, that you wouldn't, you wouldn't just on the surface recognize Right. As, as being dairy based. Yeah. Good. Thank you for
Walt Cooley (09:20):
That. Yes. One of my, one of my son's favorite, uh, fast food meals is the grilled cheese burrito from Taco Bell
Stan Erwine (10:00):
That, that's a that's a great point, uh, Walt, because I think, again, if you look at the strategy over what, 11 to 12 years working with Taco Bell now, next future, we began with, they always used dairy, but it was more of a garnish, some cheese, some sour cream. They saw the benefit of, well, let's, let's look at dairy as a hero. Uh, the, the grilled cheese burrito, um, and then again, dairy scientists that, uh, basically Marty we're, we've just learned there's gonna be a cheese, uh, shell, it's made out. So, so things were, now we're looking at that burrito and others, 10 x the number of the amount of cheese we used to use. But your questions also really good, and I'm glad you asked it, is, you know, I think some farmers think we just write checks to these partners. A lot of what we do, uh, the checkoff has world class research, and you can speak to this, whether it's nutrition research, whether it's consumer research on our changing consumer, gen Z.
Stan Erwine (11:04):
How do we talk about dairy to them? Uh, we typically say, well, dairy is, uh, you know, the perfect food nine, or is it 13 essential minerals and nutrients? But that's us talking to each other. The consumer, uh, the young consumer health and wellness is mind and body. They wanna know, where does dairy fit into my need for calmness energy to get through a difficult day, immunity, digestive health? And we begin to message to them in that way, magic happens. But I think that's the other thing would be, it's, it's a lot of, it's very, very good research. But the other is, it's important to know that when we enter into these agreements, they have targets they need to hit, we need to hit, as we examine our relationship managers work with our various partners,
Marty McKinzie (11:56):
And, and Stan, we, we have shifted some of those relationships as a result of either meeting those benchmarks or identifying that, that we need to shift. And, and there's certain, certain partners that we've focused, we focused outside the borders of the US as opposed to focusing within the borders of the US as a result of some of that analysis and some of that, you know, some of those hard discussions and, and, and really, really deep diving in to make sure that the dollars are being spent most effectively.
Stan Erwine (12:27):
No, that's a another great point. And then, well, I want to come to you because I think the other thing for those who saw, uh, our panel that was here, talking about a future ready checkoff, uh, what are we doing looking at dairy innovation to put us in health and wellness categories? Or how long have we talked Scott about nutraceuticals? Exactly. Well, now, now dairy is medicine and being in categories where maybe it's not the dairy aisle, but it's, it's, it's the ability to capitalize on these other opportunities. But, well, you know, a lot of what we've done, and Barbara O'Brien is into her fourth year as the CEO, and a lot of this has been her initiative to say, I want the checkoff to be more transparent to the farmers. If they have questions, we're gonna address 'em. Uh, I want us to be willing to look at programs maybe that we've done in the past, that maybe we move into another arena to use farmer dollars more wisely. And I think the other is, again, empowering staff and bringing in teams that are talented people to think differently, operate differently, and have a bias for action. But Walt, you can probably speak to that just in how you have observed through the years, how the checkoff has evolved.
Walt Cooley (13:43):
Yeah. Uh, well, I guess the first thing I would say, Stan is, uh, in, in our magazine, there's a few hot topics that we'll get, uh, letters to the editor written. And, uh, the checkoff is usually one of them. But I could say over the last four or five years that, uh, the number of letters that I get related to the checkoff has been smaller. So obviously something is working. But I think one of the things that, um, is interesting to me is how the checkoff is always, uh, you know, to use, I think it's the Wayne Gretzky quote, they're skating to where the puck is. Lemme give you an example. So, uh, a few years ago we were talking about, uh, the, the, the gaming generation and making sure we had partnerships with, uh, Mr. Beast and YouTube and, uh, embedding cows into Minecraft.
Walt Cooley (14:24):
And I was like, this is really, this is kind of out there. Like this is, this is weird. And then yet I have, uh, two boys, and, and they're, they were a little bit outside, um, that timeframe, right when that discussion was coming out. But now, guess where they're at? They're on Minecraft, they're YouTubing, they're gaming, you know, so I, I just love how the, the dairy checkoff always seems to be skating where the puck is. And it's, it's exciting to come to a place like Western Dairy Management Conference and hear the panel, because you get to hear where the puck's gonna be. And maybe you're like, that's nutraceuticals. That's kind of weird. But you've done the research, you've done your homework, and you know where that's gonna be. And, and I think dairy producers, you know, just give it some time in two or three years, you're gonna see some of these, uh, examples of things coming out that you're like, wow, I heard, I heard about that two or three years ago.
Stan Erwine (15:13):
I, I was, I was chuckling because my daughters are 34 and 31, and I'm talking about Mr. Beast, I'm talking about some of these trans, and they go,
Walt Cooley (15:41):
I mean, you guys did, uh, uh, that's kudos to the, the, the checkoff, like you, you're skating toward the puck is, you know, what the trend is going to be, and you're getting ahead of the curve. Yeah.
Scott (15:49):
We've had a couple conversations this week about, um, uh, US exports and, and Marty, you mentioned that we're, we're you're looking for partnerships outside the us. Can you talk a little bit about that and what does that look like? Or what are, and in terms of skating to the puck, are we skating, um, towards, uh, maybe doing something with more exports?
Stan Erwine (16:09):
So I'll take that at the high level. Yeah. And then Marty, I know because you have a neighbor in Mexico, which is our largest export customer, that you guys are very involved in supporting US tech above and beyond, you know, maybe what we look at overall. But first thing going back to, uh, Chekhov being farmer directed, um, we have an 81 member board. Sounds like a big board, but we've gotta have representation across the country, but they truly make these decisions. And I had a farmer remind me from the board in Ohio one time, he goes, I think sometimes people think other farmers think we just rubber stamp things that are coming through. Have you ever known a farmer to rubber stamp anything? So no. There's, there's good debate, there's strong discussion. But when it comes to exports, let's go back to 1995, 3% of our dairy was being exported.
Stan Erwine (17:04):
It was basically we were getting rid of what we had overproduced. It was not geared to the needs of our customers. That number is now between 16 and 17%. And we've gotta keep in mind that 95% of consumers live outside the United States. We're gonna continue to grow domestic, but we've got to grow the export. And so that's what's being done, and it's being done now through some work by some previous CEOs at US Dairy Export Council, but also through, uh, Krista Harden now, where we have partnerships in these key countries. So we're looking at whatever we do to make sure that the product, the ingredients, and keeping in mind that, you know, most of what we ship over are dry milk, milk solid products. We're not necessarily shipping milk, but making sure that those products, the ingredients that we're providing meet the needs of the customer in the market. Mm-hmm
Marty McKinzie (18:05):
Absolutely. Stan, I, I think, uh, you know, important to the Dairy Max region, which Dairy Max, by the way, covers eight states in the western central part of the US from Montana down to next New Mexico, Texas, and Louisiana. So we are, we are effectively border to border as a state and regional organization. But, uh, the increase in processing capacity, which has been a topic this week as well, the in increase in processing capacity has necessitated a focus for us as a state and region. And our dairy farmer board has, has, you know, supported and, and given direction to, to, uh, to go ahead and, and like Stan mentioned, support US deck in a way that that facilitates the movement of some of that additional, additional cheese, additional powder that, that could easily go into Mexico because of our, our proximity to, uh, to that country.
Marty McKinzie (18:58):
Uh, you know, just this past summer, we leveraged some of the partnerships that we have locally with the Dallas Cowboys and HEB, which is a regional grocery chain, but one that, that certainly has a following, uh, you know, that is, uh, you know, indicative of the products that they offer and the services that they provide. But HEB has stores in Mexico, and as a result of our partnership in domestically within, within the states, we were able to work with them. And if you think about our partnership with the Dallas Cowboys, which we are, dairy Max is the official nutrition partner of the Dallas Cowboys, and has been for several years, uh, again, leveraging the, the value, the nutritional value, and, and the positivity around dairy. Uh, cowboys are extremely popular in, in Mexico. And so we, we did a few, um, you know, a few, uh, events in store where we had rowdy the mascot for the Cowboys and, and worked to, to highlight US produced cheese, um, in, in those stores. And, and during that time period, saw a, a fairly significant increase in, in purchasing. Uh, and, and again, I don't wanna take soul credit for that, but certainly I think, I think our presence there and working with US Deck and understanding the, the Mexican consumer and the, you know, the dynamic that exists there was, was extremely positive.
Stan Erwine (20:22):
So let's, let's stay on exports for a second, and while I'm gonna come to you, um, you know, readers of your magazine, um, are growing, uh, they're expanding their dairies, they're expanding milk production. Uh, what's the importance of exports to your readers?
Walt Cooley (20:39):
Oh, yeah, sure. We've had a conversation here in another, uh, podcast with Scott, and we we're talking about multiple countries worth of us milk being needed in the future. And so there's definitely gonna be a place for us dairy to grow and, uh, like you said, Stan, we need to grow the domestic market. But definitely there's gonna be an opportunity in the world somewhere.
Stan Erwine (21:00):
And, and we will, uh, grow the domestic market because as we've seen how people consume their dairy is different. We're at currently, what is it, Marty? I think it's 38 pounds of cheese consumed by Americans per cap, per capita. Yeah. You look at that and somebody says, well, can we continue to grow that? I counter that with, well, do you have any idea what per capita consumption of cheese is in France? Right? It's about 63 pounds. So, uh, I, people love their cheese. There's great growth opportunities will continue
Scott (21:32):
To be. Yeah. Well, Torsten, and kind of going back to, to the conversation we had in the other, uh, uh, podcast, you said, we will continue to grow it. His PO position is there's gonna be by 20 50, 400 50 million more tons that's gonna be needed. That's, and it's not because we're driving it or we're growing, it's because the marketplace is going to demand it. Alright. Now, who's gonna get that? Uh, who's gonna get that volume? And I think the US is positioned it nicely to get a, a, a big lion's share of that. And then kind of to build on that, por had, um, he had three glasses of milk in front of him, a a big Texas style
Stan Erwine (22:42):
You, you, you're exactly right. And so, you know, you had some other, um, industry leaders, uh, on this podcast from the Western Dairy Management Conference. And again, kudos to the Western Dairy Management Conference. And Walt, I've had the pleasure of working with you on the planning and programming committee. And you know, like so many things we, we kind of, we kind of hit a little detour in 2020. We've had some weather issues, but we're back to what, 1200 attendees, some of the best programming I think I have seen, um, in years industry leaders. But you visited with Greg Dowd, with NMPF. Yeah. You visited with, uh, Corey Geiger. And I think the message you got from them was the growth potential for
Scott (23:26):
Dairy
Stan Erwine (23:26):
Yeah. Is tremendous. Yeah. The investment in dairy Yeah. And new processing Yeah.
Scott (23:33):
Here in the states,
Stan Erwine (23:34):
Here in the States is tremendous. Which is a strong signal again, that this industry is gonna continue to grow. Um, Barb mentioned dairy renaissance that we're seeing at Dairy Renaissance, and I had a board member at our February board meeting called Stan, um, Renaissance. You know, help me understand that, because you know, obviously I'm dealing with some stress milk prices, but when, when, when Barb says dairy Renaissance, what do you see? What does that mean? I said, well, take a step back. When you look at Time Magazine, when you look at Vogue, no, it's wall, uh, it's, uh, New York Times. You look at Vogue now talking about dairy, you know, uh, and its growth. I mean, that's a, that's a significant shift. So you look at that, the cultural t uh, uh, relevance, you look at, again, consumer trends, uh, and how consumers are looking to dairy in that health and wellness area, consuming more dairy.
Stan Erwine (24:33):
You take that, you look at the investment that's occurring in the United States, and then you look at the advancement, and this gets back to Barb and Paul and Eve's presentation. It gets back to the advancement, the rapid advancement of science and technology and innovation that is gonna allow us to go back to that area's medicine, to look at categories, uh, that are billion dollar categories that we're not necessarily playing in, whether that's gut health, uh, whether that's skin health, whether that's aging. And you talk to any young person today, they're thinking about all these, and what will foods do to help me achieve those things? So that's the renaissance.
Walt Cooley (25:17):
Yeah. I have to, uh, just an example here. So at, at the conference, sitting at a table during lunch and, uh, with some other producers, and there's a, a young lady who's sitting at the table, and as soon as the meal is over, she gets out this pill case and begins to kind of portion out some pills. And everyone's like, what are you doing? And, you know, she's like, well, I take this pill for, uh, skin health, and I take this one and, you know, for gut health. And I, she, she had at least eight or 10 pills she was gonna take after the meal. And so I think, again, this is just one of those things where the upcoming generation has a, uh, hyperfocus on health and, uh, and, and, and, you know, very targeted, uh, needs that they might have with their health, understanding their own health, uh, better than maybe we have in the past. And so these supplements, the place for dairy as a supplement may, I mean, we all know they're all in like a glass of milk, but being able to target specific things that are in milk and maybe even hyper concentrate those, uh, nutraceuticals into a pill, that's, that's what the, this next generation is looking at.
Marty McKinzie (26:21):
And, and Stan, uh, to, to add to that, though, I think you, you talked a lot about, you know, things that, that, that we're actively working on, but the results that we have seen in the most recent year as, as it relates to sales and increase in consumption of, of yogurt, for example, cheese is, uh, e cottage cheese has become a phenomenon,
Stan Erwine (27:00):
Marty. That's, that's a, that's a great point because our farmers, they measure everything mm-hmm
Stan Erwine (27:55):
But we've gotta marry those, those two things. But I think when we talk about that new technology and the young lady you mentioned, uh, uh, having lunch with, you know, Eve Pollett, uh, who heads up our milk molecule initiative, talked very specifically to that and to what we're gonna see into the future with these trends. And, you know, um, basically being able to have DNA driven, what, what do you need to have in your diet? But two things that we're looking at right now and get it back to this health and wellness was looking at the milk molecule and, uh, milk molecule that can address immunity. A milk molecule that can address improved sleep, you know, uh, and, and some people need that more than others. Some people sleep on the road. Well, like I do, others, not so much, but so tryptophan, which has those, uh, sleep, you know, uh, when you look at dairy products that'll have that or lactoferrin on the immunity and being able to encapsulate that, and we're already beginning to see products that are gonna be used because the dairy farmers, that's the question to Paul's Zelinski who leads our health wellness insights and innovation team.
Stan Erwine (29:12):
Hey, this is great. This is very, very exciting, but what are you doing for sales right now? How quickly can you commercialize this? And, uh, so there's a lot of exciting things happening. And
Scott (29:23):
I wanna build on, you know, you're talking about the components of milk and the, the health effects. So, uh, I'd be, uh, remiss if I didn't mention that, uh, being Balchem and the choline company, right? Milk is the richest source of choline available, and 83% of the US population is deficient in choline. So drink your milk,
Stan Erwine (29:55):
No, no, that actually makes a nice bridge. Um, we just are in the midst every five years we have, and again, it's the federal government, the dietary guidelines for Americans, which again, looks at what is the consumption, what is the recommended? Is it three a day? Does it remain three a day? Uh, national Dairy Council, which a lot of our farmers don't necessarily understand that that is part of the checkoff. That's the dairy nutrition, the dairy science people that do that work, we cannot lobby, uh, uh, we can't get it under the regulatory side, which you'll, I think all well know. But because of the strong history of the National Dairy Council and the credible third party research they do, they did, I believe Marty, it was 26 papers for that comment period to be able to submit and say, here's the case for dairy remaining its own food group, which did not happen in some countries around the world. Here's the evidence of why dairy needs to be and remain at that three a day. And I'll tell you, we were under significant pressure from other beverages to make that change. But through their great work, we've retained all those strength and all those positions. And to your point, dairy is what Marty, it's provides minerals.
Marty McKinzie (31:18):
Well, th three of the four nutrients of there go, three of the four nutrients of concern for Americans are, are, are met strongly by dairy and dairy products. And so calcium, vitamin D and potassium are, are those three, three nutrients, um, that, that are, that, that, that do are strongly provided by, by dairy products and and beyond that, 20% of the protein in the American diet comes from dairy. And about 50% of the, uh, the vitamin D and calcium is provided to the American diet by dairy products as well. So in addition to choline, they're, yeah,
Scott (31:55):
We need that a fourth. Yeah.
Stan Erwine (31:57):
But, so as you say, these, these are, these are nutrients that, uh, Americans are not getting enough. No. Yeah. Yeah.
Scott (32:04):
Mm-hmm
Stan Erwine (32:04):
So there's one other thing I I, I wanna, uh, and I think you saw it here, dairy is being celebrated. Um, the growth, the potential we have, but we often miss this, um, dairy's a powerhouse, and this is some messaging we do with making every drop count to remind people and the, and particularly the dairy farmers that produce it, that, hey, um, number one, it is the strongest single category at retail, $85 billion in sales in the last 52 week period. Uh, and it's growing more rapidly, and it's a stronger category than liquor. I mean, I've been known to like a bourbon, so I'm just like, Hey, or a bloody Mary. Yeah, or a bloody Mary. I'm going. So, but then beyond that, listen to these numbers, uh, uh, household penetration. So it's not just, you know, looking at some of those broader numbers, but household penetration. I'd like the audience, uh, to think about Walt, you know, this Marty, you know, this, 96% of households consume and have cheese. Think of that, think of another product would have that kind of penetration. 92% milk, 28 gallons per buyer, 82% ice cream, 81% yogurt, 75% butter. What a portfolio of strength, uh, that we're gonna continue to grow from.
Scott (33:34):
Um, anything else you wanna add before we kind of wrap it up here, Stan?
Stan Erwine (33:39):
No, I think I addressed the, the dairy, the dairy Renaissance, um, the health and wellness. Um, you know, maybe real quickly, ma um, Marty, um, we've got a long-term agreement with the Mayo Clinic, you know, and it's a long-term agreement. It's not a partnership, it, it, it's long term research based agreement. Can you quickly just summarize what we're doing there and the, and some of the potential?
Marty McKinzie (34:04):
Well, Stan and, and I, I, this is certainly gonna be a collaborative effort, but, but I think that relationship certainly is, is one that's extremely important. We've talked about the focus on health and wellness. We've talked about the credibility of, of different partners, and certainly the Mayo Clinic, uh, is representative of, of a, an entity that has very, very strong credibility. And so again, focusing on the science, focusing on the research and the validation of dairy's role in, in the American diet, and how, how that is going to drive health and wellness into the future, I think is extremely important. One thing I would say about that, that though is, is oftentimes, oftentimes when we are doing things like this, uh, those that, that aren't supportive of dairy take a focus on those organizations or those entities. And so, uh, you know, I think that that, that also is something that, that we need to recognize as part of the work that we do continually, we are, we are looking to, to ensure that, that we have all of our bases covered. And, and again, the credibility of, of Mayo, the validation and history that they have in the science and in the, the researchers that they do are, are, are extremely important to that.
Stan Erwine (35:19):
And I'll put a real quick ribbon around that. So that credible research that I talked about, the National Dairy Council doing that was observed by Mayo, which again, strong research base that had to be, you know, that had to be the entry point, uh, working together. But with where they're headed long term, uh, they're looking at, they wanted to focus on whole, whole milk foods and the ability of those whole milk foods in the work that they're doing to focus on cardiovascular and metabolic disease. And I think Paul said it really well, that we wanna move from the position of, well, dairy doesn't contribute either of those to a position through the research of no dairy is a strong thing to have to address cardiovascular and metabolic disease. Absolutely.
Marty McKinzie (36:12):
Yeah. The importance of the first thousand days of life is another, is another piece that is a focus because early brain development is extremely important. And the value of, of dairy in, in that role is, is something else. The, the last thing I would say Stan too, though, is just, just really quickly, is the real faces of dairy that, that we know, you know, we know is, is, is driven through, through balm. How, how the importance of, of really identifying to the consumer, who our dairy farmers are and, and the work that they do. Oftentimes, I know at Dairy Max, we, we get that question of who is a dairy farmer? What does a dairy farmer look like? And, and the, the work that that's been done there has been, has been, has been helpful and supportive in that effort.
Scott (36:57):
Yeah, thank you for that. We got 76,000 followers on our Facebook page. Oh, wow. Yeah, that's, it's, it's quite popular.
Stan Erwine (37:04):
So fantastic. So in closing, for me, again, an information source that is robust and it's continuing to grow is dairy checkoff.com for those that wanna learn more about their checkoff.
Scott (37:15):
Yeah, no such your, your, your, your closing comments. 'cause I was gonna ask everybody to kind of give kind of a, a closing, uh, couple takeaways. Uh, I'll circle back to you. Well,
Speaker 3 (37:25):
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Walt Cooley (37:51):
Appreciate the opportunity to be here, uh, with Stan and the Dairy Checkoff. Uh, you know, I would relate the Dairy Checkoff for our farmer audience too, kinda like that team that you cheer for, everyone has a passionate team that you cheer for and, uh, when you, when you're, you know your team so well and you know your team's good, you want 'em to win by 60 points, right? Every single time. It's like, why aren't we winning by 60 points? We're so good. Um, and, and, and, you know, you like it when you win. I just wanna say, I think that the Dairy Checkoff is winning. I think sometimes dairy producers want 'em to win by 60 points. Um, and there's a lot of, uh, other forces out there that are fighting against the dairy checkoff, but Dairy Checkoff is winning, even if it's not by 60 points we're winning. And that's because they're playing defense where they're keeping, uh, you know, know nutrition in, uh, schools and, and different places where other people wanna pull it out of. And then they're also just being offensive. They're skating to where the puck is. They're looking for those next opportunities. So, uh, we all love dairy. Uh, we want it to win huge, and it is winning, even if maybe we're thinking the margin is, uh, maybe not as big as we want it to be.
Scott (38:54):
Yeah, love the comments, uh, you know, and, and I'm glad to be a part of it. Stand with, uh, help tell the message of the home team. Right. Oh, thank so I appreciate that. Uh, Marty, any, any final comments?
Marty McKinzie (39:06):
You know, just, uh, just the complimentary work that goes on both at the national level and at the local levels to ensure that we're maximizing and reaching the highest potential of return for our dairy farmers is, is key. I can't, I can't think of another organization I would want to work for that has the breadth and depth of coverage that we do. If you think about the topics that we've covered just in this short time from health and wellness to influencers and Gen Z and the consumer, as well as product innovation and the development that's going on there, uh, all of those things are extremely important to the future. And, and the strength of the dairy industry is, uh, you know, is, is has been, has been talked about significantly this week and increasingly over what, what we can expect in the future. And I, I'm just extremely excited to do this work on behalf of the dairy farmer. And I know the, the combination of, of those efforts from national to local really are meeting the needs and, and getting there. And, and well, thank you for the kind words about, about us winning, because we all feel that we are. And, and getting that message out and, and developing the relationships that, that allow for that, that sharing of information is, is critical.
Scott (40:19):
Yeah, well said Marty. Stan, any final comments?
Stan Erwine (40:23):
Yeah, yeah, just, just one. Uh, there's two, again, the importance of the state and regional collaboration. We just had Marty here, but you've got, and everybody knows and often knows their local organization better than they know DMI. We want to again, work with them to make sure that they have a question. Seek out your state and regional organization. I think the other goes back to results. You know, sometimes it's difficult for us for all the, what is it, 110 billion pounds of milk sold since we were created that we've helped drive that sale and consumption. We cannot engage on the price side of things. So I think sometimes our team, I know I feel frustrated that our work has not resulted in a better milk check for farmers, but when it comes to results, some go, well, gimme an ROI, gimme a result. So one of them I often use and went back to the dairy scientists is our partners are tremendous marketers.
Stan Erwine (41:24):
They're tremendous organizations that run strong retail chains, but they're not functional in dairy. And you mentioned the dairy scientists. So one of those others was McDonald's coming to us after seeing some research from the National Dairy Council that after about 20 years, everybody said, you know what? There are good fats in milk. Butter is back, which was Forbes, I think June 14 article in Forbes Magazine. But to have McDonald's that same year, 2015 come to us and say, we've seen the research. We wanna make a shift in all 14,000 locations from margarine to butter. We want done in six months. We had a dairy scientist work with them to get that done. Results, 600 million additional pounds of milk sold through that change. And that was nine years ago. So a lot of our category work creates change that continues to give. It's a gift that keeps on giving. Yeah. So that's it. All right.
Scott (42:25):
Thank you, Stan. I, I appreciate you and appreciate y'all, you do for the, for the industry. Thank you guys. Well, thank you for joining us. Uh, Marty great, great guest. I appreciate, appreciate you guys. Thanks for joining us here. Glad to be part of the team and to the other team members out there. Um, thanks for coming along once again, hope you learned something. I hope you had some fun and hope to see you next time here at Real Science Exchange, where it's always happy hour and you're always among friends.
Speaker 3 (42:50):
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