The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) has invited dairy suppliers and contractors to an annual meeting next month to discuss topics and concerns regarding its Commodity Procurement Programs and the USDA Foods Program.

The dairy industry and representatives from other industries are invited to share their concerns on contracting issues with AMS commodity procurement staff, as well as discuss issues or concerns with the processing, labeling and inspection of products sold in commodity programs. IDFA encourages members to attend the meeting at the DoubleTree in Arlington, Va., for networking and industry break-out sessions on Oct. 26, 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m., and an all-industry session on Oct. 27, 8:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

“This is an important opportunity for cheese and dairy companies that sell products to the AMS Commodity Procurement Program to meet face-to-face with USDA staff and collaborate with other contractor and supplier stakeholders to improve the programs,” said Cary Frye, IDFA vice president of regulatory and scientific affairs.

USDA also encourages attendees to schedule time with commodity procurement staff specialists in advance for individual meetings on the morning of Oct. 26.

Registration for the meeting is free and available online, and a hotel block has been reserved for attendees. Visit USDA’s webpage, “2016 Annual Industry Meeting for USDA Foods Contractors and Suppliers,” for more information. 

Members with questions may contact Frye at cfyre@idfa.org.