FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Marti Hogan
mhogan@idfa.org
(202) 220-3535
(Washington, D.C. – June 8, 2016) Nominations are now being accepted for the 19th annual Innovative Dairy Farmer of the Year, an annual award co-sponsored by IDFA and Dairy Herd Management magazine. The winner will be honored at Dairy Forum 2017, January 29-February 1, at the J.W. Marriott Orlando Grande Lakes in Orlando, Fla. Nominations must be submitted by August 19, 2016, and there is no fee to enter.
The call asks for nominations of active U.S. dairy farms that are improving on-farm efficiency through progressive management practices, production technologies and/or marketing approaches. Nominees will be judged on current methods as well as their positioning to meet future economic and business challenges.
The award recipient will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to Dairy Forum to attend a special presentation ceremony held during the program. (Winner will be responsible for all tax liabilities.) The person nominating the winner will receive complimentary registration to Dairy Forum.
In addition, the winning operation will be highlighted in the January 2017 issue of Dairy Herd Management. Dairy Forum is widely recognized as the most important processor and producer conference of the year for the U.S. dairy industry. The 2016 event drew a record crowd of more than 1,100 industry participants.
The 2016 winner was Holsum Dairies of Hilbert, Wis. Previous winners were Hilmar Jerseys in Hilmar, Calif .; Milk Source, LLC, in Kaukauna, Wis.; McCarty Family Farms, Rexford, Kan.;Sweetwater Valley Farm, Philadelphia, Tenn.; Brubaker Farms of Mount Joy, Pa.; Haubenschild Dairy Farm, Princeton, Minn.; High Plains Dairy of Friona, Texas; Mason Dixon Farms, Gettysburg, Pa.; Clauss Dairy Farms, Hilmar, Calif.; Baldwin Dairy/Emerald Dairy, Emerald, Wis.; Si-Ellen Farms, Jerome, Idaho; Pagel's Ponderosa Dairy, Kewaunee, Wis.; C Bar M Dairy, Jerome, Idaho; North Florida Holsteins of Bell, Fla.; KF Dairy of El Centro, Calif; Joseph Gallo Farms of Atwater, Calif.; and KBC Farms, Purdy, Mo.
Complete award criteria and a nomination form are available here.
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The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA), Washington, D.C., represents the nation's dairy manufacturing and marketing industries and their suppliers, with a membership of 550 companies within a $125-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 nearly 200 dairy processing members run nearly 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, ice cream and frozen desserts produced and marketed in the United States. IDFA can be found online at www.idfa.org.