IDFA staff members joined 1,200 global dairy stakeholders from 64 countries in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, last week to discuss dairy’s global role in nutrition and sustainability at the International Dairy Federation’s (IDF) World Dairy Summit. The event brought dairy farmers, processors, researchers, marketers, policy makers and consumers together to “Dare to Dairy” and to consider initiatives on sustainability across the globe, as well as key nutritional trends and scientific advances.
The summit featured a variety of session topics designed to address the need to nourish a growing population through sustainable dairy practices. The sessions included views and counterviews, as well as inside and outside industry perceptions, to present a collaborative perspective on achieving sustainability on the global scale.
Representing IDFA at the meeting were Clay Hough, senior group vice president; John Allan, vice president of regulatory affairs and international standards; Cary Frye, vice president of regulatory and scientific affairs; and Bob Yonkers, vice president and chief economist.
Business and Committee Meetings
Hough serves on the IDF board of directors as the dairy processing sector representative. Frye is chair of the U.S.-IDF board and was named at the summit the leader of a new IDF action team on criteria for natural label standards. Allan serves as deputy chair of the IDF Food Standards and Labeling Committee, and Yonkers serves on the IDF Marketing Committee and the Dairy Policies and Economics Committee. Several IDF business and committee meetings took place prior to the summit, and IDFA will provide highlights from these meetings next week.
“IDFA was happy to represent its members on the global stage at the World Dairy Summit, covering such critical issues as sustainable dairy and world nutrition, as well as food safety and standards,” said Hough.
Dairy Declaration of Rotterdam
Capping off the discussion on sustainability during the General Assembly’s last day, IDF joined the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in signing the Dairy Declaration of Rotterdam, a commitment to the sustainable development of the global dairy sector. The declaration recognized the U.N. 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as the central framework for IDF dairy sustainability actions and announced agreement to take an integrated approach to promote sustainability.
Ren Wang, FAO assistant director general, and Jeremy Hill, president of IDF, signed the declaration.
“The dairy sector has a key role to play in achieving the sustainable development goals of the U.N. 2030 Agenda. The goals integrate the three dimensions of sustainability— economic, social and environmental— and call for commitment from all stakeholders,” Wang said.
“I am confident that we will look back at this declaration as a landmark event in the history of dairy. We can be confident about the impact and importance of the dairy to the world,” Hill said.
For more information about IDF or the World Dairy Summit, contact Frye at cfrye@idfa.org or Allan at jallan@idfa.org.