Dave Carlin, IDFA senior vice president of legislative affairs and economic policy, this week provided leaders of the Virginia Agribusiness Council with data on the state’s dairy industry and its economic impact on the United States. Carlin also highlighted the “Got Jobs? Dairy Creates Jobs, Exports Create More” campaign, a cross-industry communications effort launched in May by IDFA, the U.S. Dairy Export Council and the National Milk Producers Federation.

Using Dairy Delivers ®, IDFA’s economic impact tool, Carlin showed that Virginia’s dairy industry has a total economic impact of $10.38 billion and supports more than 61,200 jobs. He addressed nearly 70 business leaders Wednesday during the council’s annual meeting.

“Our members have found this tool to be an incredibly useful resource to help explain dairy’s prominence in the economy,” Carlin said. “Dairy is an economic powerhouse, and I’m pleased that this data can help policymakers better appreciate the contributions our industry makes at the federal, state and local level.”

Dairy Delivers ® highlights the jobs, wages, taxes and overall economic impact of the industry all the way down to congressional districts. The Got Jobs? campaign amplifies the Dairy Delivers® data with narratives about hardworking dairy farmers, innovative dairy foods company employees, resourceful retailers and many others throughout the food supply chain. You can find the campaign at GotDairyJobs.org.

Contact Carlin at dcarlin@idfa.org for more information.