Northeast Dairy Magazine | Q1 2022 by NortheastDairyMag

INDUSTRY FORECAST How Will Supply Chain and Labor Shortages Impact Dairy in 2022? DID YOU KNOW?

The History of FMMO Orders

First Quarter 2022

NEW TO THE TEAM

Meet the Director of Regulatory Affairs

ASK THE EXPERTS

Board Members Comment on Labor Shortage

SURVEY RESULTS

Members Predict Slow Recovery in 2022

nedairyfoods.org

The NED Supplier Catalog Library

issuu.com/ndsacatalogs If you’d like to feature your company catalog in

the next Weekly Dairy Newsroom contact

Anne DeSantis anned@nedairymedia.com.

contents First Quarter 2022 • Volume 5, No. 1

FEATURES

FORECAST Supply Chain, Labor Shortage

FRONT DESK 04

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE, NDFA

PAGE 22

Planning and Forecasting Today BY DANIEL LAUSCH

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE, NDSA imes Are Tough, But We T Are Tougher BY BILL ELLIOTT

EXECUTIVE VP MESSAGE On the Agenda BY OZZIE ORSILLO

LEGISLATIVE REPORT J oining the Team, Representing Our Members BY PAUL HARVEY

Membership Survey Shows Concern, Cautious Hope for Growth

BY CAROLINE K. REFF

Minimum Wage Increases in Northeastern States

PAMD Executive’s View of 2022

BY ROB FULTON

ASK A BOARD MEMBER A Good Employee Is Hard to Find

Board Members Working for Dairy Industry, Working for You

Cornell Offers Dairy Career Program to High Schoolers

BY ANIKA ZUBER GIANFORTE

ECONOMIC OUTLOOK S/CANADA Still at Odds, U USDEC See Little Global Supply Change

TOOLS OF THE TRADE 36

ou’re Still Working Y Remotely

hatever It Takes: W Motivating Toward Success

SOMETHING TO CONSIDER

BY TOM ARMITAGE

BY JOHN TAPLEY

Brief History of FMMO

iring Has Turned H Into a Nightmare!

Search Engine Trends

BY TOM ARMITAGE

Rebuilding Relationships Post COVID

on’t Fear Investment D Losses, Reap the Reward

BY RANDY SQUIBB

BY RYAN SMITH

SHA: Reporting a O Severe or Fatal Injury

BY GARY LATTA

Editor’s Note on Photography Images used in this issue of Northeast Dairy were submitted by various sources and some were taken pre-pandemic, which is why many of the subjects are not wearing masks or other protective gear in the photos.

Ready for Tax Season?

BY CHRIS TORRES NED Magazine | First Quarter 2022 • 1

contents First Quarter 2022 • Volume 5, No. 1

NORTHEAST DAIRY FOODS ASSOCIATION, INC. EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT

James “Ozzie” Orsillo PRESIDENT

Daniel Lausch Lactalis American Group

DIRECTOR OF REGULATORY AFFAIRS

Paul Harvey

VICE PRESIDENT

Kevin Ellis Cayuga Milk Ingredients

BUSINESS OPERATIONS MANAGER

Leanne Ziemba

TREASURER

Randi Muzumdar HP Hood LLC

SECRETARY

Ryan Elliott Byrne Dairy

NORTHEAST DAIRY SUPPLIERS ASSOCIATION, INC. PRESIDENT

Bill Elliott Northeast Great Dane

VICE PRESIDENT

Melissa Fryer Alfa Laval

TREASURER

Ryan Osterhout KCO Resource Management

SECRETARY

Bruce Alling Double H Plastics, Inc.

NORTHEAST DAIRY MAGAZINE TEAM MEMBER NEWS 53

ruce W. Krupke B Memorial Scholarship

Member and Industry News

Welcome New Members

SDA Final Rule Allows U Flavored, Low-Fat Milk

Leanne’s Kitchen: Mushroom Bisque

EXECUTIVE EDITOR

James “Ozzie” Orsillo oo@nedairyfoods.org PUBLISHER/DIRECTOR OF SALES

Bill Brod billbrod@nedairymedia.com EDITOR

Caroline K. Reff creff@nedairymedia.com CONTENT DIRECTOR

SALES

Anne DeSantis anned@nedairymedia.com Lesli Mitchell lmitchell@nedairymedia.com CONTRIBUTORS

Tom Armitage, Rob Fulton, Anika Zuber Gianforte, Ryan Smith, Randy Squibb, John Tapley and Chris Torres PRODUCED BY

2022 Annual Convention

Steve Guglielmo steveg@nedairymedia.com

2022 NDFA, NDSA Events

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Robin Barnes

Editorial correspondence should be directed to editor@nedairymedia.com. Advertising correspondence and materials should be sent to billbrod@nedairymedia.com.

Advertisers’ Index

GRAPHIC DESIGN

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to lz@nedairyfoods.org.

Robin Barnes

Northeast Dairy Media

COVER DESIGN

STAY CONNECTED

www.nedairyfoods.org www.neastda.org 427 S. MAIN ST, NORTH SYRACUSE, N.Y. 13212 315-452-MILK (6455)

2 • Northeast Dairy Foods Association, Inc.

Robin Barnes An official magazine of the Northeast Dairy Foods Association, Inc., a nonprofit organization. This publication carries authoritative notices and articles in regard to the activities and interests of the associations. In all other respects, neither the association nor the producer of the publication, Northeast Dairy Media, is responsible for the contents thereof or the opinions of the contributors. The entire contents are © 2022 by Northeast Dairy Media. Nothing may be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission of the publisher. The association and Northeast Dairy Media reserve the right to print portions or all of any correspondence mailed to the editors without liability on its part and no such correspondence will be returned. Visit Northeast Dairy Foods Association online at nedairyfoods.org for current information on association programs and services, or call the association at 315-452-MILK (6455). Questions and comments may also be sent to the association at oo@nedairyfoods.org.

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Front Desk

Planning and Forecasting in the Dairy Business Today BY DANIEL LAUSCH President, board of directors, Northeast Dairy Foods Association, Inc.

f you have been in your line of work for 10 or more years, you’ve probably grown to feel comfortable with your playing field. But now, your playing field is operating under different rules with some permanent changes and new market forces at work. I compare it to playing a familiar board game for years with family and friends, and then, suddenly, some new spaces are added, some are deleted and some of the rules force you to make moves you’ve never thought of before. Many of us have been wasting our energy hoping things will return to the way they were in 2019, but, as we know, the pandemic has forced us to pivot towards ways that may be around for a long time, if not permanently. I will share the story of my 7 a.m. flight out of Buffalo, New York, to 4 • Northeast Dairy Foods Association, Inc.

To remain strong, both as individual operations and an industry, we need to change our plans, do something in a way we might not ordinarily do in order to achieve the needed result, and think outside the box, as we navigate the bumps along the way.

Chicago recently, during which I had planned to write this article. Before we boarded the plane, all passengers were offered $600 to be bumped to a mid-day flight. The airline needed three seats to be made available before boarding could begin. I declined the offer, thinking I did not want to lose a couple of hours at my final destination. Once we finally boarded, the pilot announced that the potable water tank in the rear of the plane was frozen. Maintenance had been notified, and a 35-minute repair delay was estimated. The outside temperature was in the single digits, and someone had failed to drain the water tank the night before. After the frozen water tank was thawed, the next announcement asked if there was a doctor or other trained medical professional on board, as a passenger

Front Desk in the front of the plane needed medical attention. We were still on the ground in Buffalo. Thankfully, the medical situation did not require an ambulance, but now we had to wait to be di-iced before take-off. The plane landed one hour and 18 minutes later at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport at Gate C-20 with my next flight departing from Gate C-11. I arrived at C-11, along with a group of other passengers, 10 minutes after the boarding door to the next plane had already closed. We were all rebooked on the next flight, but it cost us all two hours. In hindsight, I should have taken the airline’s offer to forfeit my original seat and accept the $600 compensation. One of the takeaways from this travel

nightmare will be to look for larger cushion times between flights, so that if a crew forgets to drain the potable water tank again, I will be better prepared to recover and still make my second flight. Now, certainly airline delays for one reason or another aren’t something new, but the pandemic has certainly impacted the travel industry like any other, if not more. The point is that, like many industries, the dairy industry has been hit hard by supply chain issues, labor shortages and an increase in wages, inflation, illness and just about everything else we never could have imagined a few years ago. Life is still unpredictable, as the Omicron variant has shown us. To remain strong, both as individual operations and an industry, we need

to change our plans, do something in a way we might not ordinarily do in order to achieve the needed result and think outside the box, as we navigate the bumps along the way. This issue of Northeast Dairy includes some interesting articles that address these issues of supply chain, shortages – both in materials and employees, and other obstacles that have impacted the dairy industry over the past couple of years, as well as shares insight into what some of our members and others in the industry are forecasting for the year ahead. We hope some of this information will help you successfully make your way through what is sure to be an interesting 2022.

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Front Desk

Times Are Tough, But We Are Tougher

BY BILL ELLIOTT President, board of directors, Northeast Dairy Food Suppliers Association, Inc.

o here we are at the end of the first quarter of 2022, and, who would have believed what we’ve had to face over what is now two years into a global pandemic? Just about two years ago, the world basically shut down. Schools and businesses locked their doors, and we were actually seeing milk being dumped because there was no place for it to go. While the good news is that we know a lot more about how to live with COVID-19 than we did back then, the reality is that it is still negatively impacting our lives, businesses and industries. I don’t like to call it a “new normal,” because there’s nothing normal about it, but I do have faith that we will remain the adaptable, innovative and nose to the grindstone industry that dairy has always been. Some of the biggest issues our industry is facing right now are addressed in this issue of Northeast Dairy magazine: supply chain issues and labor shortages. I read an article in USA Today recently that out-of-stock percentages, which normally hover around 5% to 10%, are currently at 15%. Honestly, that doesn’t seem so bad on paper, but I think every one of us has seen the empty shelves in the grocery stores or unreasonably 6 • Northeast Dairy Foods Association, Inc.

long wait times on supply orders. The good news is that the top 10 largest U.S. retailers believe that supply chain issues will start to see a real correction by the second half of this year. What concerns me is what happens in the meantime? I read a recent statistic that said 35% of people are willing to switch brands if their favorite isn’t available. The question is, will they switch back once their usual brand of milk, cheese or yogurt returns to the shelf? I’m no marketing expert, but I believe this is a concern, as brand loyalty certainly drives business. It’s no different on the supplier end. If a customer needs an item badly enough, that customer might be willing to take a chance on another company’s product. In my industry, trucking, many manufacturers of trucks, trailers and related components have announced that they are going to produce approximately 65% of their capacity in 2022 due to labor and material shortages. Companies are currently paying astronomical prices, but what is the alternative? There is very little or no inventory out there. And, like many industries, truck and truck equipment manufacturers are using “directional pricing” right now, as they can’t predict the future either. That means they take an

order but reserve the right to change the price 12 to 16 weeks out from the tentative completion date. The price would be based on current raw material and labor costs, the equipment cost could increase, decrease or remain unchanged. It’s amazing to me that people are still signing on the dotted line, but what choice do they have? Of course, this is not to say that the trucking supply industry is doing anything wrong. They are trying to survive, just like everybody else. Their suppliers are experiencing shortages and raising prices, too. It’s a maddening cycle. The labor shortage is probably my greatest frustration. There are so many jobs out there in every industry – good, well-paying jobs – but many people don’t want them. Yes, I am sympathetic to those who can’t work due to health or childcare issues in these times of COVID – but there is a sense that many people just don’t want to work, and, as we all know, the dairy industry is not for the faint of heart. Certainly, labor shortages have proven devastating for businesses and certainly inconvenienced consumers, but it also makes me wonder if we aren’t setting ourselves up for some kind of “computerized revolution” that might

Front Desk 2022 CALENDAR OF DAIRY EVENTS

have no choice but to replace humans with robots driven by artificial intelligence, which will change the business landscape forever. On the bright side, NDSA and NDFA are moving forward with our in-person events for 2022 – the Blender, Dairy Day, the golf tournament/clambake, our annual convention – and these are always something to get excited about. After all, the best part of our industry is the camaraderie of all of our great people. See more about these events on page 58 and 59 of this issue of the magazine. And, don’t forget to encourage any family members heading off to college or trade school soon to apply for the NDSA scholarship. Applications are being accepted now through June 1 for the 2022-2023 academic year. Last year, we saw a surprising decrease in applications, although I must say the level of talent of our scholarship winners was truly amazing! Still, I’m hoping we will see many more applicants take advantage of the chance to receive $1,000 or $2,000 awards towards their education. The Northeast Dairy Suppliers Association is very committed to supporting those going into majors and trades related to the dairy industry, and we’ve committed up to $20,000 to give away this year. Don’t miss out. Go to our website for details, and apply today. In the end, these have been some unprecedented days, but there are some bright spots. How the history books will tell the story of the pandemic is still up in the air. Times are tough, but we are tougher, and together we’ll find a way to make it work.

LET’S CELEBRATE! APRIL 2022 APRIL 3: National Chocolate Mousse Day APRIL 11: National Cheese Fondue Day APRIL 12: National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day APRIL 17: National Cheese Ball Day APRIL 23: National Cherry Cheesecake Day

MAY 2022 MAY 3: National Chocolate Custard Day MAY 18: National Cheese Souffle Day MAY 22: National Vanilla Pudding Day MAY 26: National Blueberry Cheesecake Day

JUNE 2022 JUNE 1: NATIONAL DAIRY MONTH JUNE 1: World Milk Day JUNE 4: National Cheese Day JUNE 7: National Chocolate Ice Cream Day JUNE 20: National Ice Cream Soda Day JUNE 20: National Vanilla Milkshake Day JUNE 26: National Chocolate Pudding Day JUNE 27: National Ice Cream Cake Day (Source: https://nationaltoday.com/april-holidays/)

NED Magazine | First Quarter 2022 • 7

Front Desk

On the Agenda: Concerning Legislative Issues, Cultivating the Next Generation and Planning for the Days Ahead BY OZZIE ORSILLO Executive Vice President, Northeast Dairy Foods Association, Inc.

he Northeast Dairy Foods Association and the Northeast Dairy Suppliers Association are anticipating a very active legislative year. As the old saying goes, “It all starts at the top.” We witness the division between parties in our country’s capitol on just about every issue, translating into painfully slow action of lawmakers. Setting aside all the time, effort and tax dollars it takes to fight over issues, rather than reaching workable solutions that benefit our citizens and businesses, the trickledown effect then takes over and forces state governments to act on their own. This is observed in our Northeast region on sustainability related issues, such as extender producer responsibility, post consumer recycle content in packing materials and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, as individual states are now setting their own “acceptable” levels in municipal water supplies. These are just three examples that are in legislation in various states here in the Northeast and beyond – issues I believe need not be rushed into law by individual states but should be examined fully and efficiently by our federal government aided by the applied knowledge of U.S. manufacturers before passing legislation at a national level. From the farm to the retail shelf, the dairy industry as a whole works constantly to improve its impact on the environment. The fact is, dairy product manufacturers are not waiting for forced government regulation to make advancements in these areas. For years, dairy manufacturers have been investing significant capital in technology and practices resulting in substantial improvements in sustainability. It goes without saying that all of these issues are important. However, a patchwork, state-by-state approach is not the way to accomplish implementation, and it is our mission here at the Northeast Dairy Foods Association to work with 8 • Northeast Dairy Foods Association, Inc.

our members and lawmakers from each state to arrive at solutions that benefit the common good.

CULTIVATING THE NEXT GENERATION

Additional topics our members are coping with include labor, supply chain and maintaining a competitive position in the region. We have looked at the issue of labor for years, and, just as our members are managing sustainability, each of them has found ways specific to their needs to hire and maintain employees, all with varying degrees of success. Here at the Northeast Dairy Foods Association, we have partnered with Cornell University and agreed to support and promote a program the school developed titled “Highschool Bootcamp.” This is a grassroots approach on how to cultivate the next generation of skilled labor for our dairy industry. This program will start with a single site in Western New York but in a manner where the program will be scalable to highschools and trade schools statewide and nationally. See page 34 in this issue of Northeast Dairy magazine, for an article from our colleagues on this program, and I encourage everyone to read it and reach out to Cornell for more information.

REPAIRING THE SUPPLY CHAIN

As for supply chain, every one of our members is dealing with some level of pain. We have heard all the reasons behind this – labor shortages, lack of raw materials, import delays, freight carrier delays and, of course, the impact COVID-19 is having on our workers. It amazes me how intertwined our business needs are and how robust the supply chain was pre-pandemic, yet how fragile it proved to be. The ripple effect from the disruption each of these puzzle pieces has on our supply chain is nothing short of astounding. From this office here at the Northeast Dairy Foods Association and the Northeast Dairy

ME T heDreamTeamForAl YourTankNe ds

Front Desk

Suppliers Association, we are committed to working closely with our members, partner associations and state officials in ways that will, over time, aid in repairing these areas. That is a great segue into several other issues – the development of inland ports and the gaining support of state economic development agencies for expansion of dairy foods manufacturing. With manufacturing expansion comes more production capacity, and with inland ports comes reliable and economical freight. This year, together with our members, we are looking for ways to collaborate with state economic development agencies on policies and incentives that will promote the growth and expansion of our members’ manufacturing facilities. A few examples of policy and incentives include appointing a state representative with the authority to work between various state agencies to streamline the evaluation and permitting approval process of expansion projects, as well as working on the term and criteria to call a site “shovel-ready.” Here, we will ask states to require any shovel-ready site have the preauthorization of all connected state agencies. We will also work to simplify the application

process and eligibility criteria for state tax incentives and grant programs that reward the expansion of companies that already manufacture products in the state.

WELCOME, PAUL HARVEY!

Working through these issues and those yet to come, coupled with 2022 being a midterm election year, we are in for a very active legislative session. To aid our efforts in this area the executive officers of your Northeast Dairy Foods Association have hired a new director of regulatory affairs. Paul Harvey, originally from Syracuse, has been living and working just outside of Washington, D.C., and recently relocated back home, right in the middle of our most active region. He is an ambitious young man with much to offer our associations and members. Get to know a little bit more about Paul on page 11 of this issue of the magazine. We are very happy to have Paul on our team and ask you to join us in welcoming him. He can be reached at ph@nedairyfoods.org. CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE ►

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Front Desk SCHOLARSHIP UPDATE

Now a quick update on our Bruce W. Krupke Memorial Scholarship program. As a paid member of the Northeast Dairy Foods Association or Northeast Dairy Suppliers Association, all the employees of your company and their immediate family members are eligible to apply for our Bruce W. Krupke Memorial Scholarship program. Each year, the board of directors of the Northeast Dairy Suppliers Association and its scholarship committee sets aside a sum of money for these awards. For 2022, the total purse is $20,000. Scholarships of $1,000 (Silver Level) and $2,000 (Gold Level) will be awarded with the intention of giving out the total allocated. If you or a member of your family qualifies, don’t let this opportunity slip away. The application process is open now at www.neastda.org, and the deadline for application is June 1.

UPCOMING EVENTS FOR 2022

to bring you the annual Bruce W. Krupke Memorial Golf Tournament and Clambake. This iconic, must-attend event is our largest networking event of the year and open to all members of the Northeast Dairy Foods Association, the Northeast Dairy Suppliers Association, the New York State Cheese Manufacturers’ Association and the Pennsylvania Association of Milk Dealers and their guest. Tickets are available now on our website at www.neastda.org Wednesday to Friday, Aug. 17 to 19, 2022: Our annual Northeast Dairy Convention will be held at The Landing Hotel at Rivers Casino, in Schenectady, New York, and hosted by the Northeast Dairy Foods Association, the New York State Cheese Manufacturers’ Association, the Pennsylvania Association of Milk Dealers and Northeast Dairy Suppliers Association. Business leaders from these four associations come together to learn about issues important to the dairy industry and network with customers, suppliers, prospects and political representatives. Registration opens soon, so keep an eye out for more information in our online newsletter and on our website. On behalf of your staff here at the Northeast Dairy Foods Association and the Northeast Dairy Suppliers Association, we thank you for your support and membership. We remain hopeful that 2022 will be a bit easier on us all and that soon the pandemic and its repercussions will be behind us. We hope you enjoy this issue of Northeast Dairy magazine.

With fingers crossed, we hope to host in-person events again this year. Mark your calendar for the following: Thursday, May 12, 2022: Our Dairy Blender will be held at The Landing Hotel/Rivers Casino, in Schenectady, New York. At this event, our Northeast Dairy Supplier members will hear from three of our Northeast Dairy Foods members who will be represented by various managers of their businesses. (Stay tuned for more details coming soon!) This is a great networking opportunity for those NDSA members who want to learn more about the manufacturing process of dairy products and network with business leaders. Following the presentations, we will mix and mingle in a very social atmosphere with music, refreshments and 2022 INDUSTRY EVENTS food. For your convenience, we have a block of rooms reserved at The Landing Hotel (https:// thelandinghotelny.com/). See our website for more details. Tuesday, May 24, 2022: Join us for Dairy Day in the Well of the legislative office building, in Albany, New York. We especially encourage all Northeast Dairy Foods Association members to participate. Please call our office for details at 315-452-6455. Wednesday, July 13, 2022: Once again, we are excited 10 • Northeast Dairy Foods Association, Inc.

Legislative + Regulations Report

JOINING THE TEAM, REPRESENTING OUR MEMBERS BY PAUL HARVEY, DIRECTOR OF REGULATORY AFFAIRS

ello, my name is Paul Harvey (no, not the radio host), and I’m honored to introduce myself as the new director of regulatory affairs for the Northeast Dairy Foods Association. Born and raised in Syracuse, New York, I have happily enjoyed the many varieties of ice cream, yogurts, milks, and cheeses that the area has to offer. Even after moving to Southern Maryland six years ago, my family and I still “bootlegged” Byrne Dairy ice cream, whipped cream and mint milk to have a little taste of home. Today, I’m excited to have returned to the Northeast to replant my roots and to learn more about the legislative issues facing the dairy industry and the challenges faced on the state and national levels. I’m also very excited to get back to the Great New York State Fair this summer to see the butter sculpture and have a cup or two of delicious, iced-cold chocolate milk! By way of introduction, in 2019, I completed a master’s degree in legislative affairs from George Washington University. While I may be young, I have been active in politics for a while now, having worked on my first political campaign for a congressional candidate here in Syracuse at the ripe old age of 17. I was the youngest volunteer campaign member at the

time – and I couldn’t even vote! A few years later, I was thrilled to intern on the Hill with another member of Congress, and I also worked my way through school while employed fulltime at the Navy Federal Credit Union. I saw that (and I’m quoting one of my favorite shows here, “The West Wing”) “Decisions are made by those who show up,” and it impacted me quite a bit because it’s so true. The more we show up and involve ourselves, particularly in our state and local elections, the more our voices are heard by our elected leaders. And, if those elected leaders aren’t hearing us, we have elections in order to choose new leaders. I was raised in a family filled with a sense of service, one of the reasons I’m so pleased to take on this position and to be an effective resource for you on the important issues that run through the halls of government and, one way or another, end up at your door. Both of my parents served in the U.S. Air Force. In fact, they met while both were serving here in Syracuse with the 174th Attack Wing. Today, my mom is retired but very active in helping military spouses and their families access the resources they need in addition to other on-base volunteer activities. My dad is still active military, serving as a colonel in the U.S. Air Force, currently in the D.C. area. Both NED Magazine | First Quarter 2022 • 11

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of them fostered in me the importance of service to others, which, in turn, urged me to find an area that fit best. Thus, taking a path into government and politics was a natural fit. My younger sister, Naomi, has also followed a path of helping others through her work as a phlebotomist in Wisconsin. The Northeast has a unique opportunity to be able to feed America, and what a great honor that is. We are the third largest producer of milk and dairy products in the U.S., and, to that end, we need to make sure that our industry is not only protected but also able to grow and to innovate in order to continue doing good work. Those of us in the Northeast are a resilient bunch – battling everything from feet of snow and sub-zero temperatures to, of course, a pandemic. But, despite it all, we know that the cows don’t stop producing milk and grocery store shelves still need to be filled, and there are a lot of steps in between that we need to ensure happen smoothly. It is our job to make sure our industry is protected, so we can continue to do good and grow for all. By the time you read this, I will most certainly have been busy visiting member plants and businesses and seeing how it all works on the front lines, as well as building relationships with our elected officials (and, I hope, sampling some more of the Northeast’s delicious dairy products along the way!). My job will encompass many issues related to dairy – transportation, equitable communication, emerging technologies, making sure our elected officials understand and represent our industry well, and also ensuring that our members are educated on the issues coming down the pike and how they may impact you – both good and bad. I am privileged to be a part of this association, and you’ll be hearing from me in future issues of Northeast Dairy magazine. I look forward to meeting many of you as I immerse myself in this new position, and I’m eager to share a round of golf, some tasty clams, and some networking at the exciting events we at NDFA/NDSA have planned for you in the months ahead. There are some important issues in front of us in 2022, and our associations are going to educate, lobby and stand strong in the best interests of the dairy industry no matter what comes our way. I look forward to working with all of you in 2022 and beyond. Paul Harvey is the director of regulatory affairs for the Northeast Dairy Foods Association, Inc.

Economic Outlook

ECONOMIC OUTLOOK

U.S. and Canada Still at Odds Over USMCA, USDEC Sees Little Change in Global Supply for 2022 BY GARY LATTA

n May of 2021, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative filed a formal grievance regarding the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement’s with a dispute panel on Canada’s administration of its dairy tariff rate quotas. U.S. dairy interests have complained of Canadian efforts to keep U.S. dairy products out of their country since the USMCA became effective in July 2020. On Dec. 20, 2021, the panel issued its 50-page ruling in favor of the U.S. Canada had until Feb. 3, 2022, 45 days from the panel’s final report, to either respond or adjust its behavior to comply. Much of the credit for the victory goes to U.S. Trade Representative

Katherine Tai who said, “This historic win will help eliminate unjustified trade restrictions on American dairy products and will ensure that the U.S. dairy industry and its workers get the full benefit of the USMCA to market and sell U.S. products to Canadian consumers.” It is a well-known fact that when USMCA was being finalized between the countries, dairy was one of the most contentious points of disagreement and ultimately resolved in the last few days of the negotiation. Under intense pressure from the dairy producers of Canada, the Canadian government struggled to prohibit the entrance of any additional dairy products from the U.S. With USMCA, a small crack was opened for

U.S. dairy exports into Canada with just over 3% to be destined for that market under the terms of the agreement. In short time, U.S. dairy interests began noticing that Canada was not living up to its agreement. Disputes began when Canada placed import dispensations, known as tariff-rate quotas, in the hands of its domestic processors. TRQs are specific quantities of product, such as milk, yogurt, cheese, powder, ice cream, etc., that can be imported at or near zero duty levels under the terms of the agreement. The three-member arbitration panel ruled that Canada has been allocating most of the lower duty TRQs to its processors with only a tiny amount going NED Magazine | First Quarter 2022 • 13

Economic Outlook

to Canadian retailers and distributors. According to reports, Canada elected to allocate its TRQs to Canadian processors who mostly imported industrial milk and bulk cheese that required further processing. U.S. interests wanted Canadian distributors and retailers to have access to the TRQs so that quality high-value American products would be available on grocery store shelves. The final panel report (section 169, pg. 27), stated, “The current Canadian system, which sets aside significant TRQ volumes only for processors, does not pass muster under the Treaty.” Neither the U.S., nor the arbitration panel, challenged Canada’s right to maintain its system of milk supply management. Canadian officials touted this as a victory, even though it was never on the table to begin with. Section 163 pg. 49 of the report clarifies further: “All the Panel decides today is that Canada cannot, in substance, ring-fence and limit to processors (and ‘further processors,’ which are processors for purposes of the Processor Clause) a reserved ‘pool’ of TRQ amounts to which only processors have access.” 14 • Northeast Dairy Foods Association, Inc.

The Canadian dairy system has come under fire in recent months, mostly from Canadian media. The supply management system and recently announced consumer price increases mandated by the Canadian Dairy Commission have irritated more than a few media critics. Food inflation is at least as big of an issue in Canada right now as it is in the U.S. Matt Gurney, a Canadian author who writes for the National Post from Toronto, had an article published on Nov. 29, 2021, titled “Supply Management is Milking Canadians Dry,” in which he was highly critical, saying, “…. supply management, in which the government has erected regulatory barriers to protect domestic production by freezing out foreign competition, limiting new entrants to the market domestically, and guaranteeing high prices for the goods, is an indefensible interference with the free market, a betrayal of Canada’s professed free-market ideals, and a dangerous sign of the malign political influence a powerful corporate special-interest lobby has over our federal politics.” The Canadian Fluid Milk Report was published in June of 2021 and was an

eye-opener for the country’s retailers and consumers. Field Agent Canada did a country wide survey of fluid milk prices in 20 markets at 185 retailers. The survey compared prices in 2021 to 2020. The survey also examined prices of fluid milk at five Wal-Mart stores located just across the border in the U.S. This report provided fodder for Canadian dairy critics. At the time of this writing, Canada had until Feb. 3, 2022, to respond with a resolution to the TRQ issue. If one reads their responses and comments, especially those in the Canadian papers, you can almost sense they continue searching for ways to circumvent or skirt around their obligations. A Hoard’s Dairyman editorial on January 14, 2022, entitled “Dairy Trade dispute far from fixed after ruling” forewarned us that Canada has proven more interested in crafting “workarounds” than honoring agreements. Read the final Panel Report December 20, 2021 Arbitral Panel Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement here: https:// bit.ly/32YZo8v. Despite our issues with Canada, U.S.

Economic Outlook global dairy exports were a bright spot in 2021. According to year end reports from the U.S. Dairy Export Council, it was tight milk supply globally that played a key role in 2021 markets. USDEC believes global milk production growth for the six major producing countries will come in at less than 1% for the calendar year. USDEC sees little change in global supply in 2022. A global surge in input costs and weather phenomena have slowed herd expansion and productivity improvement despite higher farm milk prices. Yield per cow has not been showing typical gains in recent months primarily due to rising feed and labor expenses. Dairy producers in Europe and Oceana are experiencing pressure from environmental regulatory efforts in their respective countries. The U.S. is feeling similar regulatory pressures on both the environmental and labor sides. Weather events around the globe have been less than optimal, and, perhaps current geopolitical issues now facing Europe, Ukraine, Russia and the U.S. might impact world stability at least in the short run. So far, U.S. dairy exports have been growing, as they capitalize on weak milk production around the globe and very competitive product prices. Most industry observers and the USDA believe these U.S. export advantages will continue into 2022. However, the National Milk Producers Federation said in a Jan. 20 report that reductions in U.S. herds and milk supply have been “dramatic,” and futures markets are indicating that the trend will last “well into 2022”. Should U.S. prices rise considerably, it could make product exports more expensive and less competitive in world markets. Increases in the value of the U.S. dollar might influence exports later in 2022. Typically, a 1% appreciation of the dollar against all other

In short time, U.S. dairy interests began noticing that Canada was not living up to its agreement. Disputes began when Canada placed import dispensations, known as tariff-rate quotas, in the hands of its domestic processors. TRQs are specific quantities of product, such as milk, yogurt,

cheese, powder, ice cream, etc., that can be imported at or near zero duty levels under the terms of the agreement.

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NED Magazine | First Quarter 2022 • 15

Wisconsin ................ 1,260 1,277 24-State Total ......... 8,914 8,889 1,938 8,914 8,889 - Represents24-State zero. Total ......... 1 Includes dry cows. Excludes - Represents zero.heifers not yet fresh. 2 1 Excludes milk suckeddry by calves. Includes cows. Excludes heifers not yet fresh. 2 Excludes milk sucked by calves.

1,985 1,939 1,938

1,995 1,939

17,274

2,501 17,274

17,239

2,548 17,239

-0.2

1.9 -0.2

Economic Outlook

Monthly Milk Per Cow - 24 Selected States Monthly Milk Per Cow - 24 Selected States

Pounds

2,150

Pounds

2,150

2,100

2,050

2,000

1,950

1,900

1,850

2020

2021 2020

1,850 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov

16 • Northeast Dairy Foods Association, Inc.

Dec

Milk Production (January 2022) USDA, National Agricultural Service MilkStatistics Production (January 2022) USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service

currencies is associated with a 0.6% to 0.8% decline in total trade among countries in the rest of the world. Supply chain issues inside the U.S. and at ocean ports will remain a concern but are expected to ease in 2022. The economy in China is stalling a bit heading into 2022. The purchasing power of Chinese citizens could get squeezed and temper its dairy purchases. Other destinations for U.S. dairy products in 2022 appear more certain and optimistic. Among these are Latin America and, of course, Mexico. Others are Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Southeast Asia consists of 11 countries and 674 million people. This region is home to many cultures, languages and one of the world’s most vibrant economies. Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, TimorLeste, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam collectively form Southeast Asia. The most recent USDA report on milk production showed December 2021 for the

2021

top 24 states down slightly from the same month in 2020. The drop was relatively small, and the USDA recorded it in the table of the report as no change. Revised figures for November production revealed it to be down 0.2% from November 2020. Production was significantly ahead March through August last year but has tightened up over the last four months. Looking at the USDA’s graphic depicting monthly milk cows in the 24 selected states on page 3 of the report reveals a startling reversal in numbers beginning around June of last year. After July, the monthly decreases have been dramatic and have fallen below previous year numbers during the last quarter of 2021. The number of head dropped 8,000 from November to December and was 42,000 below December 2020. Similarly, monthly production per cow has declined over the last six months of 2021 and has been near levels recorded in 2020 – no doubt a reflection of rising input costs like feed, fertilizer, fuel and labor. Some reports

indicate producers may be reluctant to make new investments at this time due to the uncertainty of inflation along with looming environmental and state labor-related legislation. In the Northeast region, December milk production was down 1.7% in New York, down 2.6% in Pennsylvania, down 1.4% in Vermont and down 4% in Ohio – all a much bigger percentage drop than the top 24 selected states collectively that were reported flat. Most industry analysts like CoBank, USDA and those in academia are forecasting higher U.S. milk prices for 2022. Dairy exporting countries that are global competitors are likely to face even more contentious headwinds in 2022. The U.S. dairy industry, however, will have its share of challenges. Along with those concerns already mentioned is the chronic drought plaguing the western part of our country, reducing the availability of feed and, perhaps, limiting expansion plans in that region.

- Represents zero. 8,923 8,881 124-State Total ........ Includes dry cows. Excludes heifers not yet fresh. 2 - Excludes Represents zero. milk sucked by calves. 1 Includes dry cows. Excludes heifers not yet fresh. 2 Excludes milk sucked by calves.

2,019

2,027

18,012

18,006

Economic Outlook

Monthly Milk Cows - 24 Selected States Monthly Milk Cows - 24 Selected States Thousand head Thousand head

9,010 9,010 8,990 8,990 8,970 8,970 8,950 8,950 8,930 8,930 8,910 8,910 8,890 8,890 8,870 8,870 8,850 8,850 8,830 8,830

Jan Jan

Feb Feb

Mar Mar

Apr Apr

May May

Jun Jun

Jul Jul

Aug Aug

Sep Sep

2020

2021

2020

2021

Oct Oct

Nov Nov

Dec Dec

Milk Production (January 2022) USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service Milk Production (January 2022) USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service

In its January 25 report, CoBank cautions dairy processors and manufacturers of rising operating and milk costs in 2022. Rising costs combined with labor availability and inflation could put pressure on processors and manufacturers. The U.S. inflation rate was 7% in 2021, and now the Federal Reserve is planning to raise interest rates in 2022. The first increase is likely to come in early spring, followed by three more during the year to curb sharply rising consumer prices. The interest rate has been near zero for the past three years. As this is being written in late January, dairy product prices at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange have been steadily climbing with a few gyrations here and there in day-to-day trading. Butter is trading near $2.8500 a pound, while blocks and barrels of cheese are each at $1.8500 per pound. Grade A nonfat dry milk is just over $1.8300 a pound, and dry whey is above $0.800 a pound.

NED Magazine | First Quarter 2022 • 17

Economic Outlook Butter spot price, Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) (weekly averages) Dollars per pound 3.00 2.60 2.20 1.80 1.40 1.00 2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

Source: CME prices as reported by USDA, Agricultural Marketing Service, Dairy Market News.

Almost all of the Oceania and Western Europe average export prices reported by USDA Dairy Market News rose substantially from November to December. The exception was the Oceania export price for whole milk powder, which declined slightly. Wholesale dairy product prices for Oceania and Western Europe

The last Global Dairy Trade Event during the first half of the year and then (dollars per pound) was on Jan. 18 when the overall index reverse toNovember increase herd size in the December increased 4.6%. Both butter and skim second half of2021 the year. Gains in output Product Region 2021 milkButter powder on the index roseOceania another per cow will be lower as producers adjust 2.5578 2.6440 Western 2.8721 5%, while cheddar cheese rose 1.1%. Europe feed rations 2.7578 in the face of higher costs. Cheddar cheese Oceania 2.2829 The USDA made note of the remarkable U.S. exports could slow 2.3832 down in milkproduct powder Oceania 1.6343 1.6933 climbSkim of dairy prices recently at 2022 if prices become less competitive Western 1.5853 1.7055 the CME in its January Livestock, Dairy, Europe with other global suppliers. However, Dry whey Western 0.5747 0.6001 and Poultry Outlook report. The USDA Europe supply growth in the other major exportWhole milkthepowder Oceania 1.7862 pointed out that CME dry whey price ing countries1.7912 is looking lackluster, and Western Europe 2.0230 2.1251 had climbed to $0.7645 a pound in the their economies are experiencing high

hundredweight for Class III milk by $1.50 to $19.65 and raised Class IV milk $1.90 to $20.90. With this adjustment, Change the 2022 0.0862 all-milk price is increased $1.85 0.1143 to $22.60 per hundredweight. 0.1002 0.0590 0.1202 Gary Latta is a dairy 0.0254 product specialist -0.0050 consultant for the 0.1021 Northeast Dairy

Dairyand Market News. weekSource: ending USDA, Jan. 14,Agricultural which was aMarketing record Service, input costs inflation too. Foods Association, high for the series. Dry whey has since Observing recent strength, USDA Inc. He has more climbed to $0.8200 per pound and will raised its price forecast for all four dairy than 30 years of experience in providing likely ascend further as exports to China commodities in 2022. Cheddar cheese economic analysis, statistics and inforremain strong. has been raised 10 cents to $1.8750 a mation to the dairy processing InFor the2022, most recent Milk Production report published by USDA, National wholesale dairy product pound. Butter has been raised a huge industry. Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), the estimate for November U.S. milk aproduction prices are expected to remain elevated, 36 cents to $2.300 pound, nonfatwas dry 18.035 billion pounds (601.2 million per day), down 0.4 percent from November 2020. This was the first year-over-year decline in daily milk driven by good domestic demand, strong milk raised 4 cents to $1.5500 a pound production sincegrowth May 2020, exports and slower in milk when and pandemic-related dry whey raised 7 cents market to $0.6450disruptions caused many milk handlers to terms limiting milk production. NASS estimates that the number of milk cows in November was 9.385 production. The USDA sees the trend a pound. With higher prices anticipated million head, 10,000tolower than inOctober 47,000 lower the than November 2020. The milk per cow toward fewer cow numbers continue 2022 for and all four commodities, estimate for November was 1,922 pounds, 3 pounds above as producers adjust to higher cost inputs USDA elevated its latest forecast perNovember 2020.

Recent Dairy Supply and Use Data

18 • Northeast Dairy Foods Association, Inc.

Economic Outlook

Brief History of Federal Milk Marketing Orders BY GARY LATTA

ithin the dairy industry, few topics are more important and talked about than Federal Milk Marketing Orders. Much of the industry’s evolution over the past century can be attributed to the regulation of milk brought about by state and federal orders. This short article is an attempt to provide a very brief history of how Federal Milk Marketing Orders came into existence in the United States. The number of published documents regarding this subject is vast, and readers are encouraged to seek these out for further study. Early attempts by dairy farmers to join and cooperatively market their milk to processors began in the late 1800s. These early efforts to collectively bargain for fair prices experienced limited success. In 1922, Congress approved the historically significant Capper-Volstead Act that allowed agricultural producers to join and act in association to collectively bargain for fair prices and distribute supplies. Capper-Volstead essentially exempted many agricultural products, including milk, from U.S. monopoly laws and set the stage for what was to come. At the beginning of the Great Depression in 1929, cooperative efforts to market milk supplies began to flounder. In March 1933, newly elected President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “New Deal” offered a fresh approach to the Great Depression,

and agriculture was included in the administration’s plan for economic recovery. This new plan was The Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933, which created an Agricultural Adjustment Administration to adjust production (set quotas) of dairy products, wheat, corn, cotton, hogs and rice. The 1933 Act authorized the creation of marketing agreements and licensing of processors. The plan was short-lived and was soon declared unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court in early 1936. The justices ruled to stop some of Roosevelt’s s New Deal programs, claiming presidential overreach. Shortly thereafter, the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937 was approved by Congress and signed into law by Roosevelt on June 3, 1937. This was “to reenact and amend provisions of the Agricultural Adjustment Act., as amended, relating to marketing agreements and orders.” It was from this act that authority for federal marketing orders for milk, as well as numerous fruits, vegetables and specialty crops was born. It also reaffirmed the marketing agreements provisions of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933. The Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937 set the stage for Milk Marketing Orders and is enabling legislation that permits dairy farmers to request and approve the creation of an order but are not mandated to do so. CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE ► NED Magazine | First Quarter 2022 • 19

Something to Consider President Franklin D. Roosevelt signing the Agricultural Adjustment Act, a farm-relief bill, 1933. Secretary of Agriculture Henry Wallace is standing second from right. Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

In March 1933, newly elected President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “New Deal” offered a fresh approach to the Great Depression, and agriculture was included in the administration’s plan for economic recovery. Federal Milk Marketing Orders do not require periodic reauthorization but are permanently authorized. A Federal Milk Marketing Order is a very specific set of regulations issued by the U.S. secretary of agriculture that conveys explicit requirements regarding the handling of milk within a distinct geographical area. Orders are created and terminated by dairy farmers or cooperatives representing them. Two-thirds of the dairy farmers or those farmers who represent two-thirds of the milk supply must approve establishing the order and thereafter amending the order. In 2004, what was then known as the Western Milk Marketing Order was terminated because two-thirds of the farmers in that area failed to approve the amended order. The 20 • Northeast Dairy Foods Association, Inc.

most recent new order was implemented in late 2018 when the California Federal Milk Marketing Order was established. California generates about 18% of milk production in the United States. Its decision to join the Federal Milk Marketing Order program meant that 70% to 80% of all U.S. production was now under the umbrella of 11 orders and is administered by USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service. By 1950, there were 40 Federal Milk Marketing Orders in the United States, which peaked to a whopping 83 in 1962. The 11 orders that exist today administer more than twice the milk supply of the 83 orders in 1962. Improvements in refrigeration, technologies, transportation infrastructure, cooperative consolidation, processor consolidation and retail consolidation over time has galvanized the industry into fewer orders. In 1996, Congress mandated that the USDA reduce the 31 orders in existence at that time to between 10 to 14 in the new Farm Bill that was formally designated the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996. The Farm Bill is the fundamental agriculture and food policy program in the United States, and Congress addresses the bill every five years with revisions and renewal. It was this FAIR Act in 1996 that launched a lengthy series of public hearings across the country that provided the industry with the first significant reform of Federal Milk Marketing

Something to Consider 11 Federal Milk Marketing Order Areas Pacific Northwest F.O. 124.

Upper Midwest F.O. 30. Mideast F.O. 33.

Northeast F.O. 1. Central F.O. 32.

California F.O. 51.

Appalachian F.O. 5. Arizona F.O. 131.

Southwest F.O. 126. Southeast F.O. 7.

Florida F.O. 6.

Source: 11 Federal Milk Marketing Order Areas (usda.gov)

Orders in many years. The number of orders were consolidated from 31 to 11. Product price formulas to determine milk values were created replacing previous formulas. Terminology was updated, order provisions were amended and a general overhaul of the complete program was achieved. The new orders were approved by dairy farmers and implemented on Jan. 1, 2000. The basic framework of this major reform has pretty much remained in place since 2000 with a few tweaks over the years, and, of course, the Class I fluid skim milk price formula change effective May 1, 2019. In mid-September 2021, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), chair of the Senate Agriculture Livestock, Dairy, Poultry, Local Food Systems and Food Safety Subcommittee, held a hearing in Washington, D.C., seeking input from industry participants regarding the integrity of the Federal Milk Marketing Order program. In early December 2021 Senators Gillibrand, Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) introduced the bipartisan Dairy Pricing Opportunity Act, requiring the Department of Agriculture within six months to begin the process of holding Federal Milk Marketing Order hearings. The focus of the hearings would be for producers and the industry to consider and review proposals for a change to Class I skim milk pricing. Several industry leaders have since expressed opinions that any future national dairy hearing should be opened for more

than just addressing the fluid milk formula. In late December last year, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack said he is not willing to support reopening the Federal Milk Marketing Orders unless and until the industry comes together and reaches a consensus. Along with product price formulas, depooling, producer price differentials and supply management are other spots of contention. “It doesn’t do any good to reopen the hearing unless you have something specific to open it with,” Vilsack said. “The only way this works is for the industry to do the hard job, the difficult job of listening to one another and trying to figure out if there is a sweet spot somewhere in between the universes that are represented here and come to the USDA and say here’s what we’d like to do, and here’s what it’s going to require the government to do.”

Gary Latta is a dairy product specialist consultant for the Northeast Dairy Foods Association, Inc. He has more than 30 years of experience in providing economic analysis, statistics and information to the dairy processing industry.

NED Magazine | First Quarter 2022 • 21

INDUSTRY FORECAST How Will Supply Chain and Labor Shortages Impact Dairy in 2022?

22 • Northeast Dairy Foods Association, Inc.

2022 INDUSTRY FORECAST

Dairy Membership Survey Shows Consistent Areas of Concern, Cautious Hope for Growth in 2022 BY CAROLINE K. REFF

t the end of 2021, Northeast Dairy magazine surveyed t h e m e m b e rship of both the Northeast Dairy Foods Association, Inc., and the Northeast Dairy Suppliers Association, Inc., to gauge their thoughts on what 2022 might bring for the dairy industry.

Interestingly, the feedback was slightly less optimistic than when Northeast Dairy completed a similar survey one year ago. At the end of 2020, as vaccines were just beginning to roll out, there was a sense of having survived an unimaginable period that just had to be the worst of the worst. Members could do nothing more than be hopeful that better days were right around the corner. Unfortunately, that has not been the case, as the U.S. is now past the two-year mark of the pandemic.

The news is not all bad, however. Almost every member who responded saw improvements and remained optimistic, even if only cautiously. The responses reflected more of a sense of acceptance that COVID-19 may be around for a lot longer than previously thought but that the country and the dairy industry were learning to work around it as best as possible. Much of the optimism stemmed from improvements in 2021 compared to the “rock bottom” year that was 2020 with the hope that

Almost every member that responded saw improvements and remained optimistic, even if only cautiously.

2022 can only continue to improve. Still, almost every member that responded expected a “U” shaped recovery, and some anticipated that even that “U” was going to extend past 2022. Members cited the same reasons for slow recovery: the ongoing presence of COVID-19, supply chain issues and lack of workers. These issues aligned well with some of the articles and commentaries presented throughout the pages of this issue of Northeast Dairy. Everyone is recruiting employees at all levels, and everyone is frustrated. Many respondents noted that they not only have job openings, but they are putting a great emphasis on active recruitment – everything from billboard advertising to online job training to signing bonuses – and offering wages and some perks at a level that has never been seen before. A shortage of employees is slowing production, not only for dairy manufacturers, but also at the companies that provide ingredients and supplies that NED Magazine | First Quarter 2022 • 23

Minimum Wage Increases in Some Northeastern States in 2022

ccording to the National Employment Law Project, Jan. 1, 2022 marked an increase in the minimum wage in 21 states, some reaching or exceeding $15 per hour. Six additional states have plans to increase their minimum wage by the end of 2022.

In the Northeast, the following states raised their minimum wage rates at the start of 2022: • Connecticut: From $13 to $14 • Maine: From $12.15 to $12.75, although the cities of Portland

and Rockland have raised the minimum wage to $13.

• Massachusetts: From $13.50 to $14.50 • New Jersey: From $12 to $13 • New York: From $12.50 in Upstate New York to $13.20; and

from $14 on Long Island and in Westchester to $15 (effective Dec. 31, 2021). The minimum wage in New York City remains at $15.

• Rhode Island: From $11.50 to $12.25 • Vermont: From $11.75 to $12.55

24 • Northeast Dairy Foods Association, Inc.

keep the dairy industry running. This cyclical domino effect has left many companies struggling. Companies are not giving up, but they are accepting that they have to do more with fewer people. “Efficiency, efficiency, efficiency,” one member commented. For some, this means focusing on their core business and most profitable products, noting that new product introductions may not be in the plans until at least later into 2022. Others are moving towards more automation when possible but say that lead times on equipment are long and cost is prohibitive. Others stated that, unfortunately, market growth may likely come at the cost of other players exiting the market. Some respondents said demand is up and booming, but gaps in the workforce are making it difficult to take advantage of many opportunities for business growth. Supply chain problems, along with transportation issues, are also a main concern, and one that, in many cases, are tied closely to the lack of workers. One respondent said supply chain has “far and away been a drag on the entire system,” and sees no relief in sight from the huge lag in LTL or ocean freight until late 2022 or even 2023. Long lead times and short deliveries of expected orders from suppliers have been a significant factor with many suppliers unable to even promise a delivery date or lock in a price due to the ongoing uncertainties. Inflation is certainly a factor, too, and higher prices are, of course, passed along to customers and consumers. Some respondents worry that higher prices may chip away at current growth as consumers become more selective with what and how much they pull from the supermarket shelves. Overall, the general sense from the survey was one more of frustration than hopelessness. Some businesses are growing and going strong, and many see the

2022 INDUSTRY FORECAST

dairy industry as holding its own and at a good point in its recovery. Others are content to remain stable right now with the hopes that 2022 will bring some growth and issues related to the pandemic will continue to resolve. Specific parts of the industry, like ice cream and cheese, continue to do well, although predicting the availability of ingredients still holds uncertainties that don’t have anyone breathing easy just yet. Retail and at-home consumption of dairy seems to remain the primary success story, as restaurants still struggle, and the status of school openings continue to fluctuate. And, while plant-based items continue to steal some volume, a few members noted that consumers realize that real dairy products “eat much better” than plant alternatives. It should be said that this survey was not returned by all members and is not meant to be a complete picture of the opinions of the entire membership of both associations. However, the common denominators of those who responded were clear. Thankfully, despite the hardships and the reality that COVID-19 is still around, those in the dairy industry are historically used to ups-and-downs, hard work and pride in the role dairy plays in feeding our country and beyond. No

members responded that they were ready to throw in the towel or were fearing the worst. Most simply believe that 2022 will be better, but probably not bring the recovery many had hoped would be here by now.

Caroline K. Reff is the editor of Northeast Dairy magazine.

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NED Magazine | First Quarter 2022 • 25

2022 INDUSTRY FORECAST

PAMD: One Association Executive’s View of What to Expect in 2022 BY ROB FULTON, CAE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE PENNSYLVANIA ASSOCIATION OF MILK DEALERS

s we dip our toe into 2022, I thought I would share a few perspectives from an association executive’s point of view. I think I have a bit of a unique perspective as someone who is still fairly new to the dairy industry, having been the executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of Milk Dealers for only about 10 months. For those that may not know, PAMD is a trade association that promotes and advances the production, processing, storage, distribution and sale of milk and dairy products in our state. We currently have 19 members; all fluid milk processing plants that handle the majority of milk and dairy products sold in Pennsylvania. What to expect for 2022? Unfortunately, none of us have a crystal ball to predict the future. However, it is no surprise that our members tell us that they continue to be impacted by the pandemic, and they expect that to continue to be an issue into 2022. What keeps our members up at night? Significant cost increases throughout all aspects of their businesses, slightly higher milk production with fewer markets, declines in fluid milk consumption, supply chain issues, shortage of materials that make it difficult to meet customer needs and, of course, 26 • Northeast Dairy Foods Association, Inc.

labor shortages across the board. There is no doubt that the pandemic has just added challenges to an already struggling industry on many levels. I certainly expect this to continue throughout 2022. It is a little early to tell how our dealer members will fare in 2022. In Pennsylvania, our Milk Marketing Board is beginning the process of holding Cost Replacement Hearings, which will take place in early spring for the six milk marketing areas in Pennsylvania. These hearings will determine price adjustments that need to be made in each of the respective milk marketing areas. The outcome of these hearings will have a significant impact, good or bad, on how our milk processing plants will fare in 2022. There are also a number of dairy economic forecast discussions to be held in the coming months that may also shed some light on how our industry needs to position or re-position itself for 2022 and beyond. Our association and other similar partners will play a critical leadership role in 2022, as we help position our members and the industry to meet the challenges that we will continue to face. PAMD’s leadership has been discussing not only the challenges mentioned above, but we are prepared to continue

2022 INDUSTRY FORECAST It is no surprise that our members tell us that they continue to be impacted by the pandemic, and they expect that to continue to be an issue into 2022. to have strategic discussions to identify other potential areas within the dairy industry in which we can advocate for meaningful progress. One such effort that I believe we need to continue to support in 2022 and that should continue to be a top priority for our industry is the work of the Pennsylvania Dairy Future Commission, which has established recommendations that are intended to promote and strengthen our dairy industry. The Dairy Future Commission was established legislatively during our 2019-2020 session of the Pennsylvania Legislature as part of a larger package of initiatives to help the dairy industry regain

its footing in the global market. Ultimately, the commission established nearly 60 recommendations, some of which seem certain to make our industry more competitive. However, there is still much more work to be done and other areas of the dairy industry that may need to be addressed. As an association, along with other partner associations like the Northeast Dairy Foods Association and the Northeast Dairy Suppliers Association, we must continue to play a critical role in 2022 in making sure that we have a leadership role in moving forward on recommendations, like those established by the Dairy Future Commission, and other potential regulatory changes that will help the dairy industry continue to be competitive in an ever-challenging global marketplace. Rob Fulton is the executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of Milk Dealers.

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Showcasing all NDSA member companies by category, description and SEO-friendly search terms. This guide assists and encourages members doing business with members. Find new products and services, industry events, deals and more! Check it out today and share it with specifiers and purchasing agents at your company. For more information about the NDSA Buyers Guide, contact Northeast Dairy Media 315-445-2347.

NED Magazine | First Quarter 2022 • 27

Supply Chain

ASK A BOARD MEMBER

A Good Employee Is Hard to Find

THE QUESTION:

Like many industries, the dairy industry continues to struggle with labor shortages that have significantly impacted business. How has your sector of the dairy industry struggled with the labor shortage and what has the industry done (or can continue to do) to both recruit and retain employees at every level?

28 • Northeast Dairy Foods Association, Inc.

ike most industries, the dairy industry continues to struggle with labor shortages – a problem that has significantly impacted businesses of every kind. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, at the end of 2021, there were 10.6 million jobs open and more than 6.3 million unemployed people in the U.S. (This number is thought to be conservative, as to be classified as “unemployed,” a person has to be actively looking for work.) Unemployment rates are expected to average just under 4% in 2022 with nearly 300,000 jobs added monthly. While there are a variety of reasons why a good employee is hard to find, the obvious common denominator is the pandemic. Some lost their jobs as businesses shut their doors; others refuse to come back fearing COVID or due to other issues like lack of childcare or elder care. Many like working from home and are only considering opportunities that will continue to let them do so – not something always possible in the

dairy industry. Some people, particularly Baby Boomers, took the pandemic as a sign that it was time to retire, and others, particularly Generation Z, decided that work-life balance was of the utmost importance, often jumping quickly from one job to a better one with fewer hours and better perks. Other issues, like age restrictions for truck drivers, a lack of interest in dairy-related jobs, particularly in the trades, and what some in the industry say is simply a lack of interest in good, old-fashioned hard work, has also tipped the scales in the wrong direction for employers. Employers in every industry are doing everything they can to draw in employees – from generous hourly wages to signing bonuses and other perks. Federal Reserve economists expect unemployment to improve by the end of 2022 but are only estimating a fall back to 3.5%, so the problem is not going away anytime soon. To that end, Northeast Dairy asked board members from the Northeast Dairy Foods Association and the Northeast Dairy Suppliers Association to weigh

Supply Chain in on the following question: Like many industries, the dairy industry continues to struggle with labor shortages that have significantly impacted business. How has your sector of the dairy industry struggled with the labor shortage and what has the industry done (or can continue to do) to both recruit and retain employees at every level? Here are some of the responses we received. “Identifying, hiring and successfully onboarding new people is becoming the single greatest determinant of our ability to meet growth opportunities in the markets we serve. We have expanded our network of professional recruiters, engaged additional local temp service agencies, created an employee rereferral program (one of my personal favorites for the successful rate of new members); and we have broadened efforts on our own internal recruiting efforts through website services. For the local temp agencies, we have held virtual open houses to show the agencies what type of environment their people will be coming to with the goal of better prioritizing our opportunities versus other forms they may be servicing and know our challenge is really against more of the work-from-home or non-manufacturing type rolls. Fortunately, it does seem to be working for us, and we were able to meet our needs through 2021. As we roll into 2022, we are, once again, experiencing growth that is putting us back into the fully active role of filling a number of positions.” –Glenn Emory, general manager, North America, Weidenhammer New Packaging, LLC “At our facility, the present employees have benefitted greatly, as we put emphasis on retaining the work force we have with better benefits, bonuses,

shift differential, pay increases, etc., which puts us on a level playing field with other local manufacturers. To attract new hires, we have implemented sign-on bonuses. We still cannot force people to return to the work force. There needs to be change in government regulations. Open the schools, so parents aren’t forced to stay home to home-school their children and restart the Job Service program to find persons on unemployment a fulfilling job and (a reason to) get off of government assistance.” –Ray Gerwitz, dairy manager, Steuben Foods, Inc. “Our company has been very aggressive in searching for new employees, particularly in the engineering and service positions. Alternate and multiple search companies have been utilized, and we have had some good success in hiring veterans of the Armed Forces who have recently been discharged. The company recently improved our PTO policy and provided increased paid time

off to employees based upon years of service in order to retain our valuable long-term employees. Even with our success, we still face a serious shortage of personnel at our plants. In many cases, we have had to extend delivery times and quantities shipped to keep all customers satisfied and properly stocked. We are also facing a shortage of electrical components and other hardware required to build our machines. Our sourcing personnel are working overtime to get us prioritized for shipments and to also locate alternate suppliers globally. –Paul Knoerl, packing equipment specialist, Pactiv Evergreen “There is no easy answer to solving the labor shortage in the dairy processing industry. Some of the challenges that we face involve having to run our plants 24/7. More and more people are realizing that having some time away or weekends off is worth something. How much money? That will vary in each person’s circumstances. However, that NED Magazine | First Quarter 2022 • 29

Supply Chain is one of the bigger challenges that we face. To give our employees more time off, including weekends, we have to be creative in scheduling shifts. We have seen other industries (like healthcare) that operate 24/7 make changes that benefit the employees’ lifestyles. Another thing is to try and improve the working conditions. Depending on where you are working in the plant, you can have some extreme environment conditions – hot or cold. What can we do as management to moderate those conditions, which usually involves some type of investment dollars? This typically can be a one-time investment. One last, and probably the most important, aspect to consider is appreciation of your employees. In my first job in private industry, the company had three plants in one town, and every day the owner was in town. He would go through one of the plants and visit the employees. The employees valued that visit because it gave them a chance to talk with the owner and express ideas to management that typically would never be heard. The employees felt that they were worth more, especially when the owner would come through and say “hi” to them by name. Sometimes the little things matter more than any of us realize.” –Thomas Pittman, senior vice president, Agri-Mark Cooperative, Inc. “Drivers. We struggle in all three of our divisions: the milk hauling, the petroleum hauling, as well as the general freight. We have put in place every kind of advertising we can think of – radio, TV, social media, geofencing, etc., to attract new people. We have three different areas where we do our own driver training – Central New York, Eastern New York and Central Pennsylvania. Lately, this has brought some success, attracting some middle age career change candidates 30 • Northeast Dairy Foods Association, Inc.

and also young people starting from scratch. This is great, but it is time consuming to get them up to speed and then finding DMV testing available in a timely fashion. It often takes six to eight weeks to get a person trained for the road test, then further training is needed to fill the specific driving position that person has chosen in one of the divisions. We can train three to four people at a time in each location, but the COVID restrictions have made that difficult. We have given large pay increases in the last couple of years in the hopes to attract and retain drivers. It has helped to retain but not so much attract. The driver shortage has really limited what we can do for our customers. Not being able to deliver longer distances or do extra work for them has limited our growth. We are always looking to grow and have been offered tons of opportunities, but we just can’t do it. Hiring and keeping mechanics and technicians are basically the same situation. We are short in all of our five shops. There seems to be very limited interest to come into this field, even though techs are very well paid today. We have to send much of our work out to vendors for repairs, which is more costly than doing it in-house – but we have no choice.

Even with the outsourcing of repairs and doing all that we can in-house, we often face repair time that is much, much longer than it should be because we are lacking parts. I know everyone has heard of the lack of electronic parts in the manufacturing of all kinds of equipment, and the same is true when it comes to repair of trucks. We’ve had to wait weeks for a sensor, which identifies the quality and level of the diesel exhaust fluid in a trucking holding tank, for example. This is a common problem, and, every time one of these sensors is needed, it is a battle to find one. It isn’t just electronics. It’s everything. We have a truck sitting now that needs a simple water pump. It’s been six weeks. These are $130,000 to $150,000 trucks sitting because we are waiting for $100 parts.” –Rick Wadhams, owner, Wadhams Enterprises, Inc. “Shortage of milk and cream haulers has been a problem for years, but it has become a much larger problem since we are operating during a multiple year pandemic. There is a shortage of drivers and a lot of turnover of available drivers. Some have just decided to retire. Just about every industry is trying to attract CDL drivers, so we’re seeing drivers switch not only to a company within the dairy industry but also to similar

Supply Chain industries – delivering milk to delivering soda or beer. And, many over the road drivers want to drive only within 105 miles of their home terminal. We’ve looked at possible options, like shortening the runs so one driver can haul more loads per legal work week, maximizing the legal payload, a willingness to hauling business units by helping new people to enter the business, being willing to spend more money per unit of measure because labor infiltration is real, and being willing to forfeit customers that are just too costly to continue providing delivery services and products.” –Daniel Lausch, director, milk procurement, Lactalis American Group, Inc.

“I run a recruiting and staffing firm that works exclusively in the food/ beverage industry with a big focus on dairy. In the 13 years that we have been doing this, we have never been busier. My company recruits management level positions from supervisor to the CEO level, and there is a lot of movement there for sure. From the people I talk to at the higher levels, the biggest problems is finding operators and processors and then retaining them. When you’re

paying $15 to $18 an hour for an operator and all of the local gas stations/ convenience stores and fast food restaurants are paying the same, it can be tough. People don’t seem to care if they show up for work because they know they can find something else pretty much immediately. I am seeing more and more companies trying to battle this by adding in incentives like paid vacations, quarterly bonuses, long-term bonus incentives, sign-on bonuses (that need to be repaid if the employee leaves within a year), educational reimbursement, employee development and career mapping in order to differentiate themselves and to make it worthwhile for people to stick around and look at it as a career rather than just a job. Unfortunately, there will always be some people who just don’t care, but a lot of people out there are quitting their jobs in the service, retail, restaurant industries and looking for a career where they can advance and still have work life balance. Companies that paint that picture around the growth in the industry and the long-term career potential within the organization for their employees are having more success. On the recruitment side, with the competitive job market, we are seeing a lot more demand for our recruiting services. Companies are reaching out to us because of our extensive network of candidates and the ability to weed people out and find passive candidates that may not be currently looking for a job but may be interested in the right opportunity. We are seeing lot of hiring in the upper level management ranks

because of the growth out there. It seems like just about every company is looking for “servant leaders” who can keep employees engaged and get their buy in. They are looking for leaders who believe in and have experience developing employees and putting into place employee training and development programs and making employees feel empowered in their jobs and within their career paths. It’s definitely a dynamic market right now, and it’s important for companies to really pay attention to both their recruiting and retention strategies in order to differentiate themselves from other competitors in the marketplace.” –Ryan Osterhout, COO and managing partner, KCO Resource Management

“More companies are adding in incentives like paid vacations, quarterly bonuses, long-term bonus incentives, signon bonuses educational reimbursement, employee development and career mapping in order to differentiate themselves....” NED Magazine | First Quarter 2022 • 31

Meet Your Board

BOARD MEMBERS

Working for the Dairy Industry, Working for You

The Northeast Dairy Foods Association and the Northeast Dairy Suppliers Association are fortunate to have such a well-rounded, experienced group of people from every aspect of the dairy industry who give their time to guide our associations and help make decisions that assist and protect the interests of our members. “Our board members are the thought leaders that help our associations make key decisions,” said Ozzie Orsillo, executive vice president of NDFA. “The wide range of expertise that we have on both of our boards is unmatched, as they are experts in our industry who have their fingers on the pulse of the issues we need to be proactive about in order to best serve our membership – from the smallest scoop shop to the largest cooperative. We thank them for their time and service, particularly as the dairy industry wades through unprecedented times.” Here are the current members of the boards of directors of the Northeast Dairy Foods Association, and the Northeast Dairy Suppliers Association. If you have a question you’d like to see answered by our board members in an upcoming issue of Northeast Dairy magazine, forward it to our editor, Caroline K. Reff, at creff@nedairymedia.com.

PRESIDENT

VICE PRESIDENT

Bill Elliott

Melissa Fryer Alfa-Laval

TREASURER

SECRETARY

Ryan Osterhout

Bruce Alling

KCO Resource Management

Double H Plastics

John Bucklin

Wendy Martin

Dan Seitzer

Westrock

Energy Partner Consultants

Ecolab

Tristan ZuberHrobuchak

Rick Wadhams

Glenn Emory

Paul Knoerl

Laura McCranie

Lisa Buldoc

Wadhams Enterprises

Weidenhammer New Packaging, LLC

Evergreen Packaging

Dairy Farmers of America

Brown & Brown

32 • Northeast Dairy Foods Association, Inc.

CHR Hansen

Gloria Little Agri-Mark

Meet Your Board

PRESIDENT

VICE PRESIDENT

SECRETARY

TREASURER

Daniel Lausch

Kevin Ellis

Ryan Elliott

Randi Muzumdar

Sorrento Lactalis

Cayuga Milk Ingredients

Byrne Dairy

HP Hood

Kimberly Bukowski

Tim Cronin

Jodi Smith Krzysiak

Cornell University

BelGioioso Cheese, Inc.

Ray Gerwitz

Brian Perry

Aaron Jonas

Steuben Foods, Inc.

Perry’s Ice Cream

Worcester Creamery

Upstate Niagara Cooperative

Adam Seybolt

Thomas Pitman

Brian Froebel

Stewart’s Processing

Agri-Mark Cooperative, Inc.

Friendship Dairies

Lewis “Butch”

Lynn Murray

Nathan Pistner

Miller

Jefferson Bulk Milk Cooperative

Great Lakes Cheese

Queensboro Dairy Products

Matt Hendricks Dairy Farmers of America

Mike Suever

Mark Toppel

Jennifer Turgeon

HP Hood

Readington Farms

HP Hood

NED Magazine | First Quarter 2022 • 33

Employee Development

Cornell to Offer Program to Introduce High Schoolers to Dairy Processing Careers BY ANIKA ZUBER GIANFORTE

pply today for jobs starting at $23 an hour! We’re hiring! No experience necessary. We had seven interviews scheduled, of the three people who showed up, we hired two. Neither showed up for their first shift. We are short 25 people. Sound familiar? Labor was already an issue pre-pandemic because of low unemployment. Now, it has been compounded with the pandemic’s multipronged hurdles. Despite the increasing starting wages across facilities, there are still vast labor issues affecting the dairy processing industry, and current employees are exhausted from the labor shortage. The industry does not need rocket scientists, college degree candidates or candidates with experience; they just need employees who will show up to work. This is proving to be easier said than done, so what can we do about it? As a Dairy Foods Extension team at Cornell University, our role is to support the emerging needs of the dairy processing industry. Over the past several years, there has been an increased focus on providing support in the area of “workforce development.” One of our key workforce development successes is training existing dairy processing personnel. We are proud to put between 700 to 1,000 incumbent dairy processing employees through our workshops 34 • Northeast Dairy Foods Association, Inc.

each year. These programs are strong employee development tools for personnel already hired by the industry, but they do not tackle the general labor shortage we see dairy facilities grappling with. As the number of unemployed persons per job opening is 0.7, the dairy industry is not the only sector grappling to find employees, and there is not an emerging pool of workers for companies to pull employees from. Businesses are left to compete through pay, benefits and/ or by being a great place to work. But, there is a group of work-ready individuals who the dairy industry could put more energy into recruiting: high school students. The reality is that not all graduating high school seniors go to college, and many graduating seniors do not have a dedicated trade they are pursuing. The dairy industry offers many career opportunities for high school graduates who are “work-ready.” After all, dairy is New York State’s number one agricultural industry, and going into the dairy career field opens up many opportunities for employment within the state. Our new pilot program in Western New York focuses on showcasing these opportunities to high school students. Cornell plans to offer a High School Dairy Processing Boot Camp in June to engage the next generation of dairy processing employees. “Work-ready” graduating high school students will have the opportunity to attend a four-day boot

camp with our team. The boot camp will feature both classroom and field time. In the classroom component, students will learn the basics of how milk is processed, the various job opportunities throughout a dairy processing facility, taste dairy product samples and hear from local processor guest speakers. In the field component of the course, students will go on in-person tours of dairy plants in the area. These tours are critical for engaging the interests of the students and are also important for giving participants a frame of reference for what working in a dairy plant environment is like. At the conclusion of the boot camp, local plants have the opportunity to interview students on the spot for open jobs. Up to 40 students from several school districts will attend our inaugural High School Dairy Processing Boot Camp, and we hope to use this pilot program as a launching point to expand the initiative to more students across different regions of the state. This program will be funded by the Genesee County Economic Development Center and is supported by several school districts there. Promotional materials will be distributed by the schools and are aimed at encouraging student (and parent) interest in the boot camp, which is being held the week prior to area high school graduations. As we are embarking down the road of more high school collaboration, there

Employee Development are several things dairy companies should keep in mind if they are interested in harnessing similar opportunities: • Transparency and Engagement: Facilities need to be more open than ever before when it comes to attracting the next generation of employees. In the world of learning from Chromebooks and social media platforms such as TikTok, our industry can’t afford to exist in an increasingly private bubble. Fortunately, the dairy industry is gravitating toward more engagement with the public. Virtual or in-person facility tours are great examples of ways to engage with local communities, including potential employees. In our pilot programming, we will be incorporating videos of plants, in-person tours, product tastings and guest speakers from local plants. All of these activities have the intention of resonating well with our local high school audience. • Coordination and Collaboration Groundwork: This started through a motivated economic development agency in Western New York. A program such as this pilot has a heavy administrative burden, including coordination with school districts and their schedules, the development of marketing materials to encourage student (and parent) interest, the communication and coordination with the dairy plants and the creation of content for the class time material. In other words, this program has key costs associated with it. After we launch this program in Western New York, our hope would be to implement this in other areas of the state, but it will depend on support from the companies in each area.

• Respond to Requests for Information: We are also creating a workforce survey in conjunction with the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets and the Department of Labor. The goal of the survey is to obtain quantitative data showing how widespread the workforce disparity is across dairy processing plants, which jobs are in highest demand at facilities overall or what starting wages for these positions are. As New York’s land-grant university, we are able to develop programs that can target the industry’s needs, but we require these simple pieces of information. Please keep an eye out for a survey aimed at acquiring this information, so that we can better assist you in these efforts.

Graduating high school seniors have the potential to immediately start working in a dairy processing facility after graduation and build a strong career for themselves in our industry. With no college debt, the ability to advance and a strong industry community, careers with dairy processors are an option with opportunities for a great future. Our team is excited to show off all the dairy industry has to offer to future dairy processing employees beginning this spring. Anika Zuber Gianforte is a dairy processing and marketing specialist at Cornell University.

NED Magazine | First Quarter 2022 • 35

Human Resources

It’s 2022, and You’re Still Working Remotely

Tips to Stay Productive, Interactive and Sane BY TOM ARMITAGE

’m struggling with the isolation of remote-only work. As an extreme extrovert – by definition – I gain energy from being around people. Perhaps you’re the same as me. The remote environments created because of COVID-19 and social distancing means that teams need to put in extra work to stay connected – while also staying productive. This means ensuring meeting time is efficient, collaboration is silky smooth, leaders are transparent and morale is high. While not everyone in the dairy industry is able to work from home, many are still doing so if their roles allow. Here’s some advice:

STAY HOME (HOME)

Not all of us are used to this new work lifestyle. Some common complaints among folks who work remotely fulltime include struggles with communication, lack of social opportunities compared to office staff and feelings of loneliness and isolation. I’m sure we’re all starting to feel all three of those. However, we must remember that this too shall pass and that we need to be as productive as possible during this period. • Have a regular routine (get up at the same time, shower, eat breakfast, etc.) and have a dedicated space just for work. That way, when you “turn off,” you can walk away from your office or desk and give full focus to family or your personal life. • Don’t get distracted by household chores or other things 36 • Northeast Dairy Foods Association, Inc.

that can pull your focus away from work. Prepare lunch the night before. Break up the day with scheduled stops for coffee. Put your phone in the other room and sign out of social media apps, so you aren’t caught browsing. • Make sure those in your home (both adults and kids) know your “business hours” and respect that as much as possible.

STAY DISTANT (VIDEO)

Some organizations are better than others at adopting and utilizing video conferencing. However, during this time, we’re using it for so many meetings and calls. There are certainly differences between good video meetings and bad ones. We’ve all been in both. Let’s look at a few things that make some positive video experiences. • Have functional internet activity. Nothing is more frustrating than a voice that’s unclear and is breaking up or video that is skipping. Arrive a few minutes early and make sure both audio and video work great. Mute yourself when not speaking. • Don’t work on other things during the meeting. It’s impolite and not as efficient as you might think. • What does your home office look like? Ensure it’s well-lit, doesn’t have distracting or offensive items in the background, and be sure you’re dressed professionally. As a matter of fact, wear what you’d normally wear to the office. Beyond looking professional, you’ll work more productively, too.

Human Resources STAY CONNECTED (SOFTWARE)

There is so much software available to help with collaboration and connectivity. Choose the right tools to help your organization and lean on them to make your teams stronger and help them work efficiently. It’s important that all within the company use the same set of software and that there is training in order to make sure everyone is aware of their full functionality and capabilities. • Chat tools like Slack or Yammer are great for helping with faster, simpler communication (avoid internal emails as much as possible) and better phone calls. • Video conferencing like GoToMeeting, Skype or Zoom are programs that are great for fostering more successful meetings with both internal and external stakeholders. Accession from Northland Communications is both a video conferencing and phone software-based tool. Make sure all team members use video in their chats to keep your team united (Yes, even the introverts!) • Task or project management tools like Wrike, Asana, Basecamp or Trello help you get your to-do lists added. Keep them well managed and always up-to-date. Assign and receive work and make sure all details are found within.

STAY INFORMED (TRANSPARENCY)

The uncertainty of the pandemic’s continuing impact can be felt globally, nationally and locally. Employees have questions, and they are worried about this impact on the company and their own roles within. Company leaders must help employees across the entire workforce feel positive, and, in order to facilitate that feeling, there needs to be transparency at all times. Establish a crisis leadership team and meet once or twice a week. Leaders in an organization can review the most current situation of what’s happening with COVID-19 in the world and how those updates affect the company directly. Plan on scheduled reoccurring updates to be issued from one leader each week that goes out to all staff members across the organization. Keep them informed of what was discussed in the crisis meetings and any other important company updates. This is absolutely necessary to ensure folks don’t feel as if they are in the dark about what’s going on inside of the company. Consider a “Truth Book” for pressing Q&As, so employees can always reference the information later. There are certainly dollars being saved with internal events being canceled. Take any unused dollars from the “social outings” bucket and re-allocate towards “care packages” that can be sent to employee homes. Hire a wellness expert (sessions

to take place virtually, of course) to teach the staff about health topics (or maybe a financial advisor instead). Or, shift the dollars towards some sort of goodwill gesture like toiletries and hygiene products for the elderly in your community.

STAY FUN

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, you need to help staff stay positive and encourage team members to have fun. There’s been much stress in the face of the pandemic. Plus, all the smiles and laughs that we all have when we interact in-person in the office are simply not happening. It’s important to keep team members engaged virtually, while keeping topics and the atmosphere light at times. • Create different Spotify playlists based on work type. Allow team members to collaborate and share. • Encourage good health habits like good eating, exercise, time for relaxation or meditation (not just because of the virus, but because people are thrown off of their normal routines). Build time into everyone’s calendar to go for a brief walk or have 15-minute coffee chats with team members. • Have virtual meetups where the topics are fun and light. Think about virtual happy hours on Friday afternoons, yoga sessions in the morning from each other’s living rooms, movie chats and book clubs. Have the entire team get together during lunch breaks, and, while eating, keep the conversations non-work related. Despite the challenges that come with remote work circumstances, it’s important that you and your team stay engaged. It may take a little time getting used to, but having good practices around a work-from-home environment and video conferencing will help your team stay connected, involved and, ultimately, more productive. Having these procedures in place will positively impact your company in the face of any future uncertainties, and your company can confidently attack any challenge head on and as a collective unit despite a remote environment. Remember to stay positive, and we’ll get through this together! A sales executive at Site-Seeker, Inc., Tom Armitage has over a decade of digital marketing experience. He speaks on the national stage, contributes to dozens of industries has been featured in podcasts, and regularly discusses marketing and advertising on LinkedIn.

NED Magazine | First Quarter 2022 • 37

Human Resources

Hiring has turned into a nightmare! BY TOM ARMITAGE

usiness owners and those of you in HR are experiencing it ﬁrst hand. Government-issued unemployment beneﬁts, lagging COVID-restrictions, new workfrom-home policies, a retiring workforce, and the economic bounceback have created a real problem. That’s why it’s time to get creative. Posting jobs on Indeed.com won’t get it done anymore. Instead, it’s time to turn to social media for help. With the right plan and efforts, it can play a pivotal role in helping brand your company and make it more attractive to job seekers.

BUILD A HIRING PLAN

According to AG America, there is a declining interest in agriculture among younger generations. Basically, the workforce is shrinking. Finding qualified candidates is becoming far more challenging than it ever has been in the past. Many hiring managers are just throwing money at the problem – through hiring bonuses, referral checks, or just flat-out increased wages. These tactics are not necessarily going to fix the problem long-term, and it may just put you well over budget at the same time. Instead, it would help if you built a hiring plan. Consider the following: • What’s the goal of hiring? • What’s your budget? Both for outreach/advertising and pay/ 38 • Northeast Dairy Foods Association, Inc.

beneﬁts for the positions? • How many positions do you need to hire for and who’s your ideal candidate? • What do potential candidates know about your company? • What does the job entail? How do the job descriptions read? • How will you approach resume/ application screening? The hiring process? • What social media sites do your ideal candidates use most often? • What type of onboarding program do you have in place? Once you’ve built your plan – you can determine how to incorporate social

media to improve the overall results. Social media can help build or strengthen your online brand (helping more potential candidates know about you), and it can help with actual recruitment. Finally, it can act as a customer service center to ﬁeld questions that candidates may have. Here are some speciﬁc ways to utilize social media as part of your recruitment efforts.

#1 SOCIAL MEDIA USED AS A BRANDING TOOL

Every company has a personality. A voice. Something meaningful to say. A lot of times, those stories aren’t

Human Resources always presented to the public and ultimately, they aren’t seen by potential hires. Identify what your brand represents, consider what you have to offer candidates. • Excellent pay and beneﬁts? • Job growth and room for advancement? • Flexible schedules and work-life balance? • Paid Time Off (PTO) and employee wellness programs? • Career development or professional training? • A company that’s doing meaningful work or living out its core values? Your marketing team likely has a social media plan already in place. Work with them to inject candidate-speciﬁc content into the mix. • Take photos of smiling technicians. • Give employees the time to write blogs on their work experiences. • Produce video testimonials on how workers love their teammates and emphasize how long they’ve been with the company. Content is the lifeblood of any marketing program, it should play the same type of role in brand-building for recruitment purposes.

#2 SOCIAL MEDIA USED AS AN ACTIVE RECRUITMENT TOOL

One of the most beautiful things about social media is its ability to host two-way communication. Unlike traditional advertising, where it was a brand talking AT consumers, social media changes that dynamic. Brands can communicate WITH consumers. With that change comes the ability to directly reach out to qualiﬁed job candidates. For larger companies with larger funds, you could hire a recruitment ﬁrm

to help with this. For smaller organizations or those on tighter budgets, you need to get scrappy and do it yourself. For management roles, LinkedIn will be your best tool. Within LinkedIn search with keywords and review profiles to discover those who might be a good fit for the position. Actively reach out via direct message and chat about the position. With LinkedIn Sales Navigator (paid add-on), you can get even more granular with your searches. You can search by geography, title, education, industry and more to find the perfect candidates. For technicians or laborers, you’ll need to turn to Facebook or Instagram. Within Facebook or Instagram, search by keyword, look through followers of brand pages, sift through those who checked in at businesses that make sense based on your industry. Craft your outreach messages carefully. Make sure you’re communicating about the job and the company and explaining all the good things you have to offer.

#3 SOCIAL MEDIA USED AS A CUSTOMER SERVICE TOOL

Social media has quickly become the go-to resource for many customers to get in touch directly with companies, as the demand among consumers is that they want swift replies. Just as customers would seek support on products or services, job seekers can use these same platforms to ask questions about the company. Embrace these tools. Staff them appropriately. Provide above-and-beyond responses. Ensure you’ve set up your systems to reply to all inquiries quickly. This can include: • Direct messages on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or LinkedIn • SMS or company texts

• Phone calls or direct emails • Form ﬁlls • Online chat Candidates are going to ask questions. They are interviewing you just as much as you are interviewing them, so be sure they get the info they need to feel good about applying or accepting

#4 SOCIAL MEDIA USED AS A REPUTATION MANAGEMENT TOOL

Just as we, as consumers, explore the reviews of restaurants before going out to dinner, we size up companies before we apply. Glassdoor, Google My Business and Facebook all contain review areas that need to be monitored and attended to. These are channels that are being seen and read by candidates and need to be part of your social media management efforts. This is a two-step process: First, you can’t remove reviews from these sites (that’s how they can claim they are trustworthy), however, you can respond to the negative reviews and try to minimize the blow. Understand what the negative reviews are about. Address those areas within your company. Then also respond politely, professionally, and appropriately to the reviews. Most readers take into consideration the brand’s response just as much as the original posters’ comments. Second, you can offset your rating scores with more positive reviews. Make sure your marketing and sales teams have a policy in place to encourage customers to leave reviews. HR should NED Magazine | First Quarter 2022 • 39

Human Resources have a similar policy that encourages current employees to leave reviews, too. Just make sure they are not incentivized and add a disclaimer that they are current employees. By replying to reviews across social media sites and actively pursuing positive reviews, it will build your brand’s reputation online and positively affect your application rates over time.

#5 SOCIAL MEDIA USED AS AN ADVERTISING TOOL

There are so many advertising platforms out there today: Google, Amazon, Spotify, Hulu and many more. Social media sites have proven themselves over the years as wonderful resources to ﬁnd targeted individuals and at reasonable costs, too.

GIVE US SOMETHING TO CHEW ON. Are you introducing an interesting product?

Have you instituted cutting-edge processes? Are you welcoming a new hire? Is your business expanding, moving or changing? Do you have other news to share? Northeast Dairy magazine is always looking for Member and Industry News. Email your information, news releases and/or captioned photographs to us at editorial@nedairymedia.com.

40 • Northeast Dairy Foods Association, Inc.

Using a “pay-per-click” model, you’ll only pay for results. Beyond your traditional recruitment ads on Indeed or the local newspaper, consider how you can better promote your job openings among applicants on social media. Facebook Ads and LinkedIn Job Ads are likely both good ﬁts. Not only can you promote the position and direct traffic to your job description pages, but these two platforms allow applications to be completed and submitted directly on the platforms themselves. Facebook users can submit an application without leaving Facebook and LinkedIn users can apply directly within LinkedIn. (TikTok just recently announced a recruitment element to its tool, as well.)

Human Resources

By allowing for direct submission within the social media sites, it will increase your applicant pool. Just keep in mind that you may need to tighten up your vetting process, as some unqualiﬁed candidates will surely come through. Cost per click will vary, depending on your industry and the competition. In most industries, it will likely be between $4-8 per click. This means you might expect 166 applicants on a $1,000 spend. Remember, if your application rate is poor, your ads may not be the only thing to blame. Make sure to consider the other elements of your hiring plan, too, including your turnaround times, your job descriptions, your screening and interview processes and what your reviews might currently say about you. All those things working together are what will drive the most qualiﬁed candidates to your job openings.

SUMMARY

Social media – as part of your marketing efforts – helps to promote, attract, sell, qualify and retain customers. Job seekers are just like buyers in a sense. And social media must play that same role. • It must help promote the company and its open positions. • It must help ﬁnd and locate relevant candidates. • It must attract those candidates to the job openings. • It must help qualify those candidates. Don’t forget to measure! According to the Harvard Business Review, only about one-third of companies monitor whether their hiring practices lead to good employees that stick around. It’s important that if you’ll be investing time, resources and dollars into social media for recruitment purposes that you measure that investment.

Track your efforts and track the progress of the employees you take on from those nefforts. That’s the only real way to measure ROI. A sales executive at Site-Seeker, Inc., Tom Armitage has over a decade of digital marketing experience. He speaks on the national stage, contributes to dozens of industries has been featured in podcasts, and regularly discusses marketing and advertising on LinkedIn.

NED Magazine | First Quarter 2022 • 41

Business Trends

Don’t Fear Investment Losses, Reap the Reward BY RYAN SMITH

hile markets are expected to climb over time, periodic downturns happen. When they do, it leaves most investors with a bitter taste in their mouths. That is why it can be beneficial to look for opportunities to make the most of these downticks in the market through tax-loss harvesting. Let’s take a look at how tax-loss harvesting works: 1. You sell an investment that has unrealized losses. Once sold, now they are recognized. 2. Use, the proceeds from the sell are reinvested into a different security that fits the investment profile of the original position. 3. Then, come tax time, you can use up to $3,000 of that recognized loss to offset ordinary income or use 100% of the “loss” to offset other capital gains in the portfolio. It might help to see an illustration: An investor purchases Fund A for $15,000. Twelve months and one day later, it’s worth $10,000. They decide to harvest the long-term, $5,000 loss (long-term because the fund was for a year plus one day). From that $5,000 loss, $3,000 of it could be used to offset ordinary income from that tax year and the remaining $2,000 can be used in future years. Capital losses that are harvested can be applied to capital gains too, not just ordinary income. For instance, the same investor from before but they own another security, Fund C. Fund C has gains of $2,000 that were realized earlier in the year. That investor can use the losses from Fund A (total of $5,000) and apply $2,000 of that loss to offset the gain, effectively eliminating taxes on that gain. Then, the remaining $3,000 can still applied to offset ordinary income. Following the sale of Fund A, the $10,000 in proceeds would be invested into a different security, Fund B. The goal is to give the investor the same market exposure to fit their allocation needs as Fund A did. By doing this, there is no potential to miss the upside of market movements. After 30 days, wash 42 • Northeast Dairy Foods Association, Inc.

sale rules no longer apply and the investor can move back to the original security, Fund A. Let’s take this one step further: If that investor uses that $3,000 to offset their ordinary income and we put them in the 30% marginal tax rate, they could receive a current income tax benefit of up to $900 ($3,000 × 30% = $900). Being a prudent investor, they put their tax savings back in the market. Assuming an average annual return of 6% and a tax-loss harvesting benefit of $900 being reinvested each year, they could potentially amount to approximately $35,000 after 20 years. Key Factors When Considering the Benefits of Tax-Loss Harvesting • Account Type: Tax-loss harvesting isn’t useful in retirement accounts such as a 401(k) or IRA, because the losses generated in a tax-deferred account cannot be deducted. • Type of Loss: A long-term loss would first be applied to a long-term gain. A short-term loss would be applied to a short-term gain. Any excess losses, from short-term or long-term, can be used to offset gains of either category.

Business Trends A couple more considerations to focus on: Wash Sale Rule: The IRS considers a wash-sale to have occurred when an investor sells a security for a loss and then buys the same or a “substantially identical” security within 30 days before or after the sale. The loss that was expected by the investor is disallowed by the IRS and it is not deductible. So, to reap the full benefit of the tax-loss, an investor must avoid a wash-sale. Market Uncertainty: There have been and will be times of extreme market volatility. This should play a role in if it is a good decision to tax-loss harvest or not. The main risk when markets are volatile is if the security used as “the replacement” recovers very quickly and increases in value, the gains from that security may offset any benefit from the tax-loss harvesting done. Then, the investor can either stay invested in a security that does not 100% fit their overall allocation or pay the taxes on the gains. So, in cases where the gain of the replacement fund’s gain is greater than the original fund’s loss, it is best to stay put.

Takeaway: Market movements, up and down, will always occur over an investor’s lifetime. Why not make the most of them when they do occur? It is important for clients and advisors to have a strategy, when tax-loss harvest opportunities arise; one that fits in to the overall investment plan so there is not too much focus on this aspect of investing alone. It is beneficial to consult with a financial professional to optimize the potential benefits of tax-loss harvesting. Ryan Smith is an investment advisor at Dopkins Wealth Management, LLC. He provides financial solutions to individuals, trusts and businesses. His services include guidance to clients regarding financial planning, investments and portfolio analysis. Smith may be reached at 716-634-8800 or rsmith@dopkins.com.

Milestones Celebrating Longevity in the Dairy Industry

SOMETHING TO CONSIDER

Laws, Taxes, Regs. Matter

Fourth Quarter 2021

SCHOLARSHIPS

NDSA AWARDS $14,000

HUMAN RESOURCES

Cybersecurity Risks

DAIRY CONVENTION

Highlights of 2021

nedairyfoods.org

Catch up on the previous issues of Northeast Dairy Magazine. Visit issuu.com⁄nedmagazine

NED Magazine | First Quarter 2022 • 43

Business Trends

Ready for Tax Season? Here’s What You Should Know BY CHRIS TORRES

ax season is well underway on many farms. “A lot of producers are meeting with their tax planner to see what their tax liability will look like in 2022,” says Dario Arezzo, senior tax consultant with NDFA member Farm Credit East. Proposals that would have eliminated stepped-up basis as part of President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better Plan, as well as proposals that would have lowered the estate tax threshold have largely been placed on the back burner, so there’s no need to be anxious about paying Uncle Sam more in either of these cases, he says. But Biden’s infrastructure bill did eliminate the Employee Retention Credit retroactive to Sept. 30. It allows qualified businesses to claim a 70% tax credit on qualified wages up to $10,000 per quarter – maximum of $7,000 per employee per quarter — if the business was either fully or partially shutdown due to a government order (the less likely qualifier for traditional producers) or if a qualifying business saw a more than 20% decline in gross profit in a given quarter compared to the previous year. So how should you be preparing for tax season? And is there anything new to think about before you sit down and file your taxes this winter and spring? Arezzo provided some insight during a recent conversation.

WHAT SHOULD YOU NOT OVERLOOK WHEN FILING YOUR TAXES THIS YEAR?

I would say for 2021 … and even 2020, the No. 1 thing that can save producers money is the Employee Retention Credit. Regardless of it going away, a lot of producers — and maybe even their advisers — aren’t aware they qualify. Not many folks are taking the time to compare revenues year over year. For example, if you showed $100,000 of gross revenue in January through March of 2021, and $500,000 in gross revenue for that same period in 2019, that is a significant drop — more than 20% —so you would qualify for employee tax credits. Granted, there are a lot of exceptions and rules. For example, 44 • Northeast Dairy Foods Association, Inc.

you get up to 70% of an employee’s wages and qualified health plans, up to $10,000 (per quarter). So, if a person is making $10,000 for that quarter, you would get a $7,000 tax credit for that person. Now, there are some gyrations where you need to reduce expenses and that gets into tax planning. But people need to be aware whether they qualified prior to the fourth quarter. And if so, are they taking into account all the gyrations involved with qualifying for it with applying and reducing expenses? At its basic level, if the government had you close, modify or partially close your retail farm stand or other business, you could also qualify for this credit and get the money you paid for your employees back. I think most people are missing this for 2021. There are also special rules available that are quite lucrative for certain startup businesses. Also, toward the end of 2020, the government made an adjustment stating that people who received Paycheck Protection Program loans and retention credits could claim both, though this takes talking to a tax professional. You normally have three years to fix and amend a past tax return, so not all is lost is these credits weren’t claimed yet.

WHAT FEDERAL TAX PROPOSALS OR LEGISLATION SHOULD PRODUCERS KEEP AN EYE ON?

So far, it’s been good news as far as pending legislation. We’ve all been keeping an eye on the Build Back Better bill in the House. There was talk earlier in 2021 of getting rid of step-up in basis, so when people die, for example farmers with farmland, their land gets valued up at the current value at the date of death. So, if I bought land at $100, and it’s worth $1 million when I die, it gets passed on to the farm worth that million dollars for determining gain on a future sale. That was subject to possible repeal and has some income tax ramifications associated with it under some other legislative proposals. It seems to have not made the bill, which is really good news for farmers. Along the same lines, there was a lot of talk around the

Business Trends However, you manage your records, whether you do them yourself or rely on professionals, having really sound records and accounting is critical to keeping an up-to-date picture of what’s going on throughout the year. This enables your tax accountant to take proactive measures to benefit your business.

WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST MISTAKES YOU SEE PRODUCERS MAKE REGARDING TAXES?

estate tax thresholds with the estate and gift tax exemptions going down in 2022. As of right now, that seems to have not made its way into the bill either. A lot of folks were worried about estate planning earlier in 2021 with regards to those changes. Some still are … because even if the estate and gift exemptions don’t change under this legislation, we know that unless something else takes place between now and January 2026, the estate and gift exemptions will go down. Also, keep a close eye on possible changes to State and Local Tax, or SALT, and its potentials impacts. If you recall, people could only deduct up to $10,000 of their state and local taxes. So that’s a big challenge, particularly for higher-income tax states like in the Northeast and into the West. In the House and Senate bills, SALT looks to be going up. So, for producers who are paying a decent amount of state and local taxes, particularly here in the Northeast, that could be a potential help. A lot of states have created SALT workarounds for S Corps. or partnerships. For example, if you pay a tax at the partnership or S Corp. level, you can deduct that as an individual and it won’t count against your $10,000 limitation.

WHAT ARE SOME GOOD FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT TIPS FOR YEAR-ROUND MANAGEMENT?

It’s so basic but it’s so critical. The building block of any good tax management and mitigation strategy always begins with good records. The better the accounting, the better items are categorized. The more up to date those records are on a continuing monthly basis, the better folks like myself can do our job.

The biggest mistake would be looking at things on a one-year basis and not taking a multi-horizon approach. And this is where I really believe having a relationship with a tax professional, where you’re looking at a three-, five-, 10-year windows, to put a plan in place. In other words, maybe it doesn’t make sense every year to pay the lowest tax that you can. Maybe we optimize tax buckets. For example, maybe the next generation is coming back to the farm next year or the year after, and maybe the farm has a high debt load. We can begin to pay down some of that debt and optimize some lower tax brackets now to get the farm ready for that transition. A lot of farms will over prepay or over tax plan. For example, a dairy farmer sells raised cows from their herd. Those are treated like stock. They’re capital gains. So, if you’re a taxpayer paying 0% capital gains, as a married couple let’s just say you have a threshold of at least $80,800 in that 0% bucket. Maybe it makes sense to fill up that threshold with raised cow sales and not prepay because you’re going to pay, in some cases, 0% tax on your raised cows anyway. Along those same lines, maybe you financed a $500,000 piece of equipment. It may not make sense to write off that piece of equipment under accelerated depreciation tools in 2021. As you pay down that debt over the next few years, you’re going to have higher taxes with those debt payments back. You’re already matching depreciation with your debt repayment schedule. In a nutshell, by working with a tax advisor, you are taking a long-term approach to tax planning that fits the family’s vision versus a short-term fix and kicking decisions down the road. Reprinted with permission. This story first appeared in the December 2021 issue of American Agriculturist. NED Magazine | First Quarter 2022 • 45

Sales+Marketing

WHATEVER IT TAKES Lessons on motivating toward success BY JOHN TAPLEY

“C

ause I love the adrenaline in my veins, I do whatever it takes.” I know, you’re asking, what is he talking about? It’s from a song by Imagine Dragons, and it’s that song that I go to when I’m stuck. And it’s not exactly about the lyrics, I don’t think I could recite more than a couple of lines. It’s more about the beat, the bounce, and the title. It gets me going. I just love the thought that you can do whatever it takes to find your way through it, to finish, to go all out for the W, to solve the problem and declare victory over the challenge. An ode to ambition. Whether it be professional or personal challenges, with the right mindset, you can find success. And we’re in that place again where we need all the positivity we can muster to find our way through “Pandemic, Part Two.” All the lessons we learned on how to adapt in a virtual world, all the new tactics in virtual selling, new technology, alternate learning methods and on and on. And there are new challenges the world didn’t face to this extent in the last go around. A variant, logistics interruptions, supply chain and raw material shortages. It’s understandable that so many are suffering from mental fatigue. In a sales role, you’re always on. You can’t let negatives show through and influence your attitude. And to understand and tolerate rejection, you can never take it personally (I know, that seems impossible.) Be a student of the game. Learn new skills and find ways to keep the optimist on the podium. I want to share a few examples from people in my life that have influenced my positive outlook. Along with whatever it takes, there is a lot be said for surrounding yourself with optimistic people and searching out mentors who live that mantra, the glass is always full (forget half full, go all the way.) 46 • Northeast Dairy Foods Association, Inc.

FAKE IT ‘TIL YOU MAKE IT

Yes, there is power in that statement. Keep believing and working it until you break through. This, from the football coach at my daughter’s high school. He was fairly new and up on stage at the first PTA meeting of the school year with a theater full of parents. He was full of energy and positivity all the time, radiant with belief in everyone around him. Along with coaching, he taught a class for seniors, “Current Events.” It was a first period class, and his goal was to give every student a bright and positive message to start their day. He told us that someone asked him, “Coach how do you keep such a high level of enthusiasm all the time? Don’t you ever get down?” His answer, with a bright smile on his face, was, “Yes, I do have moments when, inwardly, I don’t feel at the top of my game, but I fake it ‘til I make it.” Bingo. And I got to know him that year and confirmed that mindset was authentic. He never let down on the positivity.

YASNY

This is an acronym from one of my all-time mentors. I’ll leave you hanging for minute while I give you a story about his power to motivate. Early in my career, I was attending my first regional sales meeting and his first as leader of our team. We all gathered for an early start on the first day, not quite awake yet. And as he stood at the podium looking out over our dull early morning demeanor, and he was full on. He got started with the welcoming comments and then paused, turned, and opened the double doors behind the podium and in comes a full high school marching band. Drums, symbols, horns, the works, and marched a couple circles around the conference hall blasting band music just as they would at a high school football half-time performance. Wow, we were his from that point on. He had us at the band.

Sales+Marketing Now, let me explain the acronym. He would use this when reporting a big win, a milestone, a success, etc. Always promoting the successes of his team, he would add on, You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet! We were all destined for greatness, all our successes would be followed by more successes. And, I also have a couple of routines that have helped me through difficult challenges:

ONE SMALL STEP

Sometimes, it’s all about a small victory, a small step forward. Then, that builds on to the next step forward and the next. Keep going in that direction one step at a time, pile on the small wins until you get to the big prize, whatever it takes!

NOT GONNA DO ANYTHING UNTIL I FINISH THIS THING

When multiple challenges are piling on and stacking up, it’s easy to procrastinate on all of them, moving back and forth amongst them and getting nothing done. Sort and prioritize, then focus on the highest priority, finish it, and move to the

next. Make no exceptions, finish one before you move to the next. In conclusion, when you’re feeling overwhelmed and don’t know where to turn next or how to keep moving in the right direction, find yourself a catalyst to motivate back to where you can work your absolute hardest. For me, it’s off to the playlist. Thank you Imagine Dragons. I’m ready for whatever it takes… John Tapley is a business development manager at Chart Industries with expertise in new business startup, innovative business growth and marketing strategies and digital/social media marketing. He has significant experience in all facets of the industrial gas industry, both domestic and global and can be reached at john.tapley@chartindustries.com and 470-332-4686.

buyersguide.neastda.org

REACH MEMBERS BY ADVERTISING IN THE NORTHEAST DAIRY CONNECTION • The ofﬁcial membership e-newsletter of the Northeast Dairy Foods Association, Inc. and Northeast Dairy Suppliers Association, Inc. • Strong open rate of 26% and a click-through rate of 24%.

TWO ADVERTISING OPTIONS AVAILABLE FOR THE E-NEWSLETTER • A Spotlight Ad allows your company to have a 50 word description at the very top of the newsletter, as well as a logo, plus a 600x300 spotlight ad in the body of the text. • A banner ad is a 600x150 ad that is placed in the body of the newsletter.

Contact Bill Brod by emailing billbrod@nedairymedia.com or calling 315-445-2347, ext. 138. NED Magazine | First Quarter 2022 • 47

Sales+Marketing

Search Engine Trends for the Dairy Industry

art of developing a comprehensive digital marketing campaign is understanding how customers and potential customers are using the Internet to find your products and your website. The graphs and information below all come from Google Trends, which analyzes the popularity of search queries in Google Search across various regions and languages. The graphs scale “Interest Over Time” which represent search interest relative to the highest point in the chart for the given region and time-period. So, a value of 100 is the peak popularity for the term.

Another alternative is Google Keyword Planner. To use this tool, you must have a Google Ads account. The Keyword Planner lets you search keywords and suggests other words or phrases related to your products and services. It lets you research the trend information for how often certain words are searched and how those searches have changed over time and also gives you suggested bid estimates for each keyword so you can determine your advertising budget. In today’s digital environment, we strongly encourage members to capitalize on this growing trend and ensure that your company is visible in the place where people search the most.

FOOD INFLATION

• Average Search Volume has increased 81.8% YoY • Average Search Volume has increased 733.3% over the past 5 years

48 • Northeast Dairy Foods Association, Inc.

TOP RELATED SEARCH QUERIES 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Food Inflation 2021 Inflation Inflation Rate Food Prices Inflation calculator

Sales+Marketing TRUCK DRIVERS

• Average Search Volume has increased 92.3% YoY • Average Search Volume has increased 122.2% over the past 5 years

TOP RELATED SEARCH QUERIES 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

How much do truck drivers make? Truck driver Truck driver jobs CDL truck drivers Is there a shortage of truck drivers?

MILK CONSUMPTION

• Average Search Volume has increased 208.3% YoY • Average Search Volume has increased 466.7% over the past 5 years

TOP RELATED SEARCH QUERIES 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Milk Dairy Product Almond Milk Coconut milk Chocolate milk

WORK FROM HOME

• Average Search Volume has increased 14.7% YoY • Average Search Volume has increased 76% over the past 5 years

TOP RELATED SEARCH QUERIES 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Work from home jobs Jobs from home How to work from home Online jobs Work from home careers NED Magazine | First Quarter 2022 • 49

Sales+Marketing

Rebuilding Relationships Post COVID BY RANDY SQUIBB

fter a 50-year career, I truly thought I had seen it all. But this past year and a half has truly been both the best of times and the worst of times in this industry. And, I promise, when I include the best of times in that sentence, I’m not going crazy! But before I get into how it has been the best of times, I think we can all agree that the past year and a half has been pretty bad. We all went through some tough times. But those who know me best know that I don’t like to dwell on the negatives. I like to concentrate on the positives and look around the corner to see that we’re headed to bluer skies. Now that we’ve seemingly moved beyond the worst that COVID has to offer and begun to return to a sense of normalcy, it’s time to start rebuilding our relationships. I value strong relationships above just about anything. And you also know that there is a huge difference between customer service and customer relations. Customers can get good customer service just about anywhere. But they buy from and return to people they have relationships with. And when COVID shut a huge part of our world down, those relationships suffered. But the good news is that even if our relationships with our customers and prospects 50 • Northeast Dairy Foods Association, Inc.

changed, so did our competitors’. And now we have the opportunity to go out and build those relationships back stronger than they ever were before. Here are a few simple but effective tips to build new relationships and deepen existing ones.

INTERNAL CUSTOMERS

When we say customers, we tend to focus on our outside customers. But I believe our employees are our internal customers. And, due to work from home orders or forced social distancing, we need to make sure we rebuild our relationships with our internal customers as well. At the height of the pandemic, many “non-essential” employees were forced to work from home, spending all day behind the computer desk or on the phone. But, as we know, our industry is an essential industry, which meant that even if some of our people couldn’t be in the office, our operations had to continue to function business as usual. Which means that while we as salespeople were tucked behind our computers in our underwear all day (don’t pretend you didn’t have days like that!), many others continued to show up day after day to make things happen. We were still working hard, but these frontline employees

Sales+Marketing were making things happen and we owe them a tremendous debt of gratitude. Make sure they know how much you noticed and appreciated their effort. Even if it’s a $25 gift card to Walmart. Just go up to them and say, “It’s been a tough year and a half, and I know that you were here every day, and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you guys doing the things that made a difference. Thank you.” You really need to go out of your way to thank these people. And particularly those of you who are in outside sales. Most people in the organization aspire to be in outside sales and look at the outside salespeople as leaders in the company. You get to drive a company car, you wear nice clothes, you’ve got an expense account. So, as a leader, those little things that you do make a huge difference. And a gesture of gratitude will be noticed and will be remembered. People want to know that they’re appreciated and valued. And if they don’t feel appreciated and valued, I promise you, they’ll remember that too.

EXTERNAL CUSTOMERS

It’s important to take care of our internal customers and ensure that morale remains high, especially coming out of a pretty dark time. But what about those customers who pay the bills? I don’t pretend to have all the answers, but I can share some things that I’ve seen work well in my half century in this “bidness.” Get with the powers that be and bring pizza for the people in the shop. Or sandwiches. And it may cost you a couple of hundred dollars, but that’s a couple of hundred dollars that I promise you will be well spent. The last thing I would suggest might be the easiest. We’re all proud of our facilities. We keep them looking good and we’re all in compliance with all of the alphabet soup agencies. So, bring in your customers for a plant tour or an open house. Roll out the red carpet for them and show them around. Make them feel like VIPs. We got away from doing things that we did for years and years. And our world got turned upside down during COVID. And I would like to think that we’re going to do some of the little things that would make a difference to get us all back on the same track again. Those are very simple things I would suggest. It’s not brain surgery. It’s things that you can do very easily that will make a difference that will hopefully start building those relationships back to what we had prior to COVID.

GET OFF THE MERRY GO ROUND

Finally, I said at the beginning of this article that the last year and a half has also had some of the best of times.

Now that we’ve seemingly moved beyond the worst that COVID has to offer and begun to return to a sense of normalcy, it’s time to start rebuilding our relationships. And when you read that, I bet you thought I had lost it. But think about your life before COVID. I bet you were running around doing a thousand different things and you felt like there weren’t enough hours in the day to get them all done. We all get so wrapped up in what I call the Merry Go Round of life. And then COVID hit, and the merry go round didn’t slow down. It stopped. The good news about the merry go round stopping is that it forced us to really reevaluate what we were doing with our lives. Both personally and professionally. I don’t know how many of you had relatives in nursing homes or friends that had parents in nursing homes. Do you remember how you felt when you couldn’t go see grandma? You couldn’t see your best friend. All you could do was go up to the window and put your hand on the window. That’s a terrible way to live your life. I don’t want to go back to those times again. So, I would ask our readers today, now that we’re coming out of COVID, are you going to go back to your old ways of doing things? Where you were too busy to go to the nursing home or to your kid’s baseball games? You were too busy to go to the Boy Scout meeting? Don’t do that. Please, take the time to do the little things that make a difference. We had what I call a mulligan. A do-over. I think we need to really examine what we were doing prior to COVID and let’s try to do everything that we can to make sure that we don’t get so busy in our life that we forget about doing the little things that make a difference. 2020 was a year to remember. We have a chance to not wipe 2020 and 2021 from our memory, because I think we learn from our mistakes and our history, but I want to wipe out as much of that negative as we can, and I want us to really concentrate on making sure that what we have left of 2021 and what we’re going to be looking forward to in 2022 are the best years that we’ve ever had in this thing called the welding and gas bidness. Will you do your part to make sure that that happens? Randy Squibb is available for customer relations presentations and can be reached by email at crsquibb@aol.com. NED Magazine | First Quarter 2022 • 51

OSHA UPDATES

Reporting a Severe or Fatal Injury FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS:

hile it’s difficult to think about, fatalities and severe injuries do happen in the workplace. All employers are required to notify OSHA when an employee is killed on the job or suffers a work-related hospitalization, amputation or loss of an eye. OSHA has put out specific requirements regarding what an employer is required to do should the unthinkable happens.

TO MAKE A REPORT

• Call the nearest OSHA office (https://www.osha.gov/contactus/ bystate) • Call the OSHA 24-hour hotline at 1-800-321-6742 (OSHA) • Report the incident online When making a report, be prepared to supply the business name, names of employees affected, the location and time of the incident, a brief description of the incident and a contact person and telephone number. 52 • Northeast Dairy Foods Association, Inc.

Who is required to report? All employers under OSHA jurisdiction must report these incidents to OSHA, even employers who are exempt from routinely keeping OSHA records due to company size or industry. If the area office is closed, may I report the incident by leaving a message on an answering machine or sending on email? No, if the area office is closed, you must report the fatality, in-patient hospitalization, amputation or loss of an eye using the 800 number (1-800-321-6742). How does OSHA define “in-patient hospitalization”? OSHA defines in-patient hospitalization as a formal admission to the in-patient service of a hospital or clinic for care or treatment. Treatment in an emergency room only is not reportable. Who should report a fatality or in-patient hospitalization of a temporary worker? Similar to the requirements in section 1904.31 for recording injuries and illnesses, the employer that provides the day-to-day supervision of the worker must report to OSHA any work-related incident resulting in a fatality, in-patient

hospitalization, amputation or loss of an eye. What if the fatality, in-patient hospitalization, amputation or loss of an eye does not occur during or right after the work-related incident? If a fatality occurs within 30 days of the work-related incident, or if an in-patient hospitalization, amputation or loss of an eye occurs within 24 hours of the work-related incident, then you must report the event to OSHA. Under what circumstances am I not required to report an incident? Employers do not have to report an event if it: • Resulted from a motor vehicle accident on a public street or highway (except in a construction work zone) • Occurred on a commercial or public transportation system, such as airplane or bus • Involved hospitalization for diagnostic testing or observation only. (Source: United States Department of Labor; Occupational Safety and Health Administration, www.OSHA.gov.)

Northeast Dairy Magazine | Q1 2022

Articles inside

Cornell Offers Dairy Career Program to High Schoolers

Minimum Wage Increases in Northeastern States

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