Dairy Iowa members and friends will meet on June 8 at the Heartland Agribition Center located at 2600 Swan lake Blvd. in Independence, Iowa. Registration will begin at 9:30 a.m. and The new Dairy Iowa Chairman Kurt Wierda will made welcoming comments and introductions at 10 a.m.
The annual program will feature Kevin Murphy from Food Chain Communications who will address how activists have surrounded agriculture and are applying a convergence model of communications swaying public opinion, even in rural America.
This year’s traditional producer panel will feature producers who have implemented labor saving and value-added technology to their operations. It will be an opportunity to learn what other dairy producers are doing with technology and ask them questions.
After lunch, scholarship winners and dairy champions will be recognized plus the 2017 Ralph Keeling Award presented.
An industry panel will share their current activities and answer questions from the audience. After hearing about industry programs and services attendees will discuss the three focus areas proposed by the steering committee, including expanding Iowa’s dairy processing capacity with a study on incentives; building consumer trust with utube and Facebook live videos; and educational programing on developing business plans. Each table will be asked to consider how they feel about the priority areas, are they focused on the right issues and other areas of work Dairy Iowa should be focusing on.