New England Dairy staff, directors, delegates, and guests gathered on October 29 and 30 in Dover, Vermont, for our 2024 Annual Meeting.
New England Dairy’s staff – which consists of registered dietitians and communications professionals – shared highlights from our work throughout the year and a look into plans for 2025 as we continue to work on behalf of farmers from across our five-state region to grow trust and drive sales for dairy.
This year’s annual meeting also featured presentations from:
- Dairy farmers Val Lavigne, Kate Fogler, and Harold Howrigan, Jr. focusing on dairy checkoff activities at the national level.
- Dairy Management Inc.’s Senior Vice President of Environmental & Nutrition Research Michelle Slimko and Executive Vice President of Wellness, Insights, and Innovation Paul Ziemnisky.
A new addition this year was a dairy showcase, featuring dairy innovations like Good Sport and YoBark.
2024 Program Highlights
Dairy Sales In Schools: We have provided over $102,000 in funding to 57 schools and community organizations through equipment grants this year. Smoothies continue to be the most popular equipment grant for schools.
eCommerce Success: Two campaigns with the American Dairy Association Northeast focusing on smoothies generated $591,000 in dairy sales, with a third campaign on cheese and dips launching in November.
Building Trust in our Target Audiences: The Adopt a Cow Program, which featured hosts farms in Vermont and Connecticut, connected 91,000 students to dairy farming, boosting dairy knowledge by 82%. We also partnered with Story Land theme park in New Hampshire, which hosts 300,000 annual visitors, for its 70th anniversary. This partnership includes events with our Mobile Dairy Fleet, a themed photo stop, recipe sharing, and more.
Consumer Engagement Events: New England Dairy focused on creating memorable in-person experiences with our Mobile Dairy Bar. Our Mobile Dairy Bar and new Mobile Dairy Experience truck support our taste, learn, meet strategy. Our Mobile Dairy Fleet reached 210,800 consumers at 44 events this year.
Health Professional Engagement: We continued our efforts to connect pediatric care providers with resources to help parents of young children navigate their way through the exciting but sometimes challenging path to feeding their children. We educated 380 health professionals at in-person meetings and webinars about topics like the importance of maternal and infant iodine in baby’s brain development.
Farmer Relations: Digital Dairy Ambassadors generated 360 posts with 82,300 engagements (likes, comments, and more). We also awarded $21,000 in grants for 21 farmer-led promotional projects including open farm days and camps for children.
2025 Programming
In 2025, we’ll continue to work toward our strategic goals, including increasing trust among our target audiences and increasing dairy sales in target channels.
This work will be achieved with three pillars in mind:
Health & Wellness: We will focus on all the ways dairy is good for consumers and their families.
Environmental sustainability: We will highlight dairy’s sustainability story and important moments such as Earth Day.
Connecting & Community: We will share the impact our farmers have in our communities and how we can connect and give back with dairy.