FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 13, 2009

Professional Dairy Managers Of Pennsylvania Offers November Program On Dairy’s Place in the Global Market

Editors Note: Media representatives may receive a complimentary registration for this event. To receive press credentials, please return the attached registration form so that we may have materials, seating, and lunch available for you. We look forward to your attendance. Thank you.

Bellefonte, PA – Dairy farmers have traditionally thought of themselves as local producers, but today’s marketplace for dairy products spans the globe. The Professional Dairy Managers of Pennsylvania will help producers explore “Dairy’s Place in the Global Market” with an Issue Forum beginning at 8:30 am on Thursday, November 5 in Cumberland County, PA.

The morning session will be held at the West Pennsboro Fire Hall in Plainfield, PA. Featured presentations will focus on “The Impact of World Trade on Domestic Marketing and Ingredients, “The Role and Influence of the Pennsylvania Milk Marketing Board on Pricing,“ and “Retail Marketing and Pricing.” To flesh out the picture of dairy retailing there will be an afternoon tour of the Giant Food Distribution Center in Carlisle that serves a grocery chain connected with hundreds of stores and hundreds of thousands of consumers.

In discussing the session President Rod Hissong said, “November’s PDMP Issue Forum is designed to help dairy producers make sense of the things affecting their bottom line and to appreciate what it all means on a practical level in the management of their dairy farm.” He notes, “It’s a new age for dairying -- when the Internet can impact public perception in the blink of an eye, where a menu change by a national restaurant chain can mean the difference between your milk selling at a fair price or not, and with overseas purchases and sales of dairy related products affecting your production and income.” Alan Reed, who will talk about the impact of world trade is DMI’s Senior Vice President for U.S. Manufacturing and Ingredient Marketing. DMI has taken a global view of milk marketing since 1995 and Alan is at the center of the latest research and development.

The role of the PMMB will be covered by John H. Howard, who has been staff attorney for the Board since 2002. John brings to the discussion a unique perspective because he operated a dairy farm with his family for more than 20 years and earned his degree in dairy production before receiving a law degree.

Now Dairy Category Manager for Giant Food Stores, Robert Schupper’s experience in food retail dates back to 1985 with a specialty for the past decade in the retail marketing and pricing of dairy products. Working with Giant Foods, he is among the nation’s leaders in the supermarket industry.

According to Hissong, “Smart dairy producers are judging where their farm fits in the new marketplace and how global influences will change their future.” He said the program will be of interest to all dairy producers “because none of us is just a local producer anymore.”

The program is open anyone from the dairy industry, but PDMP offers a special fee of $25 for any individual who comes from a PDMP member farm. To help producers who do not hold PDMP membership, the organization continues its offer allowing a non-member to attend one Issue Forum at the member rate. The standard non-member fee is $75 per person.

To get more information, visit PDMP’s website, www.pdmp.org.

PDMP is an organization of progressive, positive-minded dairy producers and agribusiness leaders. Its mission is to advance the dairy industry in Pennsylvania through improved productivity and profitability. This program is being made possible in part through the support of PDMP Premier Partners: Acuity CPAs, AgChoice Farm Credit, Cargill, Elanco, Lancaster Dairy Farm Automation, Land O’Lakes, Pfizer, Pioneer Hi-Bred, T.A. Seed, and Triple H Construction. For more information on PDMP, visit their website at www.pdmp.org or email info@pdmp.org.