Front Desk
The Business of Dairy Impacts All of our Members One Way or Another BY OZZIE ORSILLO Executive Vice President, Northeast Dairy Foods Association, Inc.
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ello readers! In this issue of Northeast Dairy magazine our feature topic is “The Business of Dairy.” All readers enjoying this issue are somehow tied to the dairy industry, whether you are a processor, manufacturer or distributor of a delicious and nutritious dairy product or maybe you provide goods or services to those dairy processors, manufacturers and distributors. Either way, you are part of the dairy family, and we hope there’s something inside these pages just for you. The Business of Dairy is not as clearly defined as it was 10, 20 or 30 years ago. Yes, it is true, some matters are still specific to dairy processors, such as the Federal Milk Marketing Order, the Pasteurized Milk Ordinance or the ins-and-outs of obtaining and maintaining a listing on the Interstate Milk Shippers list. These are very specific and incredibly significant to the dairy industry. But, from a macro view, the business of dairy is just like any other business. Companies that provide packaging materials, ingredients, processing and filling equipment, freight, health care, recruitment, utilities — all of them
6 • Northeast Dairy Foods Association, Inc.
must deal with the same core components of running a business. Now there will be some readers who will discount this theory depending on their own discipline, but generally the overlap between dairy and all other businesses is getting larger. Here in our office at the Northeast Dairy Foods Association and the Northeast Dairy Suppliers Association, we constantly look for ripples in the regulatory fabric that might impact the dairy industry. And, what we are experiencing is that these ripples are becoming more commonly impactful to members across both NDFA and NDSA. A few examples are recycling and extended producer responsibility bills in New York, New Jersey and Maine. This issue is gaining steam state-by-state and will become a national issue very soon. We are working on employee rights matters, gas tax proposals and many other issues you will see in our legislative report written by Alex Walsh, our associate vice president of regulatory affairs. With that in mind, our efforts now cross over both associations more often than ever before. As we look to the future of our associations and how to become an even stronger voice to law makes across our region
and nationally and on multiple issues, we will be looking to our Northeast Dairy Supplier Association members to participate in our legislative efforts on a case-bycase basis. No, you will not need to give a significant amount of time or become a lobbyist — that’s our job. We simply need your insight. If you are interested in learning how we can help your business and how your involvement will help the common good, please contact our office. We welcome your participation. Now on to our events in 2021. Early in June, we held our first live event since our August 2019 conference. Exclusively for our Northeast Dairy Suppliers Association members, the good folks of Byrne Dairy graciously hosted a tour of the Byrne Hollow Farm culture facility in Cortland, New York. This tour sold out within 48 hours of posting registration, but Byrne’s management team attended our Dairy Blender event immediately following the tour, where our waitlisted folks had the opportunity to speak one-on-one with many of them. The Dairy Blender provided a fun-filled networking atmosphere coupled with great food, refreshments and live entertainment. Due to the overwhelmingly positive feedback from all attendees,
