Industry celebrated the 20th World Milk Day on June 1, offering global dairy suppliers the opportunity to publicize activities linked to this space. Since the inaugural celebration of the event in 2001, a growing number of countries have participated with varying efforts. Dubbed the “Superbowl of Milk” by some sector representatives, the event saw wide-reaching efforts from industry representatives in curbing hunger while spotlighting dairy.

“Similarly to previous years, Arla Foods has celebrated World Milk Day with dairy lovers around the globe this year. Both Arla farmer owners, colleagues and consumers have joined forces and were raising a glass to milk and the great nutritional benefits it brings to the world,” Hanne Søndergaard, Chief Marketing Officer at Arla Foods, tells FoodIngredientsFirst.

In light of the global event, Arla’s main action was to create a “European dairy traditions” video to highlight the different ways dairy is enjoyed in Arla’s core European markets, which was shared on linkedIn.

Meanwhile, Arla’s colleagues in Nigeria settled with a theme for the day called “Raise a glass to Better Days.” This was brought to life through an online activation. Consumers and colleagues was implored to take a picture of themselves holding a glass of milk; share what “better days” means to them; and use the hashtag #Danomilkycheers.

The date of June 1 was chosen for World Milk Day, as a number of countries were already celebrating a national milk day on or around this time. “Late May was originally proposed, but some countries, for example China, felt they already had too many celebrations in that month. While most countries hold their celebrations on June 1, some choose to hold them a week or so before or after this date,” the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) details.

625,000 gallons of milk
Honoring the celebration, the Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) have donated the equivalent of more than 625,000 gallons of milk to the families faced with hunger who relied on these services over the past few months. Additionally, through the creation of the DFA Cares Farmers Feeding Families Fund, DFA and its farmer-owners are raising money to help provide essential support and deliver much-needed dairy products to community food banks across the country. To date, DFA has raised more than US$500,000.

“With job losses, food insecurity and the need for additional supplies at food banks at an all-time high, we’re grateful for our family farmers, employees, industry partners and friends in the community for all they are doing in the midst of this pandemic to get dairy from the farm to the tables of those in need,” says Monica Massey, DFA Executive Vice President and Chief of Staff.

On June 1, DFA publicized the Gallons of Good initiative. Under this project, the association is encouraging social media users to share what they are grateful for using the hashtag #GallonsOfGood throughout the month of June. DFA will donate US$1 to help local food banks purchase milk through the Farmers Feeding Families Fund.

“In times like this, when people are trying to feed their families with sometimes scarce resources, they know dairy offers a wealth of nutrition, yet its one of the least donated items at food banks. As a community of more than 13,000 family dairy farmers, we know initiatives like #GallonsOfGood are more important than ever to get more milk into the hands of people who need it most,” says Massey.

The Dairy Match
In celebration of World Milk Day, Hunger Task Force – an anti-hunger non-profit located in Wisconsin, US – is announcing The Dairy Match, a match program made possible through a US$1 million donation from the Aqualia International Foundation. Throughout the month of June, Hunger Task Force is calling upon the public for donations to the Wisconsin Dairy Recovery Program. All donations will be matched with the goal to contribute US$2 million in grants to support dairy farmers, farm cooperatives and their local producers throughout Wisconsin.

After seeing the success of the Wisconsin Dairy Recovery Program, Hunger Task Force decided to direct the new Aqualia funding – in addition to the hopeful US$1 million public contribution – as grant awards for members within the Hunger Relief Federation of Wisconsin.

“Hunger Task Force is truly excited to celebrate World Milk Day with the announcement of this million dollar challenge grant,” says Sherrie Tussler, Executive Director of Hunger Task Force. “Together with Wisconsin Dairy Farmers and their Wisconsin-based producers, we can increase access to fresh dairy products for hungry people across our fine state. We have been overwhelmed with the support we have received and have passed along the goodness by getting milk and cheese to free, local and independent food pantries and food banks across Wisconsin.”

The initial Wisconsin Dairy Recovery Program, launched April 15, offered an opportunity to connect free, local and independent member organizations of the Hunger Relief Federation of Wisconsin to valuable dairy products for hungry families statewide. To date, the program has moved 48,600 gallons of fresh Wisconsin milk and 127,250 pounds of cheese to nearly 85 statewide emergency food sites to help feed hungry families.

Hunger Task Force will use the funds raised during The Dairy Match to distribute up to US$2 million worth of grants to food programs throughout Wisconsin to support the continued work of the Wisconsin Dairy Recovery Program. This funding will connect struggling dairy farmers in Wisconsin directly to the food pantry or program in their immediate area.

Dairy.com acquires My Dairy Dashboard
In other dairy developments, Dairy.com, a software provider for the dairy sector, has acquired majority ownership of My Dairy Dashboard after reaching an agreement with co-founder Virtus Nutrition.

“My Dairy Dashboard will be an important piece in our suite of end-to-end dairy supply chain tools,” says Dairy.com CEO Scott Sexton. “Every day, across the US and elsewher in the world, the My Dairy Dashboard platform successfully automates data collected from multiple sources, standardizes information for consistency across farms, and provides visual insights into critical metrics.”

The team at Virtus Nutrition was instrumental in laying out the vision and guiding the direction of My Dairy Dashboard to this point. Dairy.com and Virtus Nutrition launched My Dairy Dashboard in May of 2017 to provide a robust, accessible new set of data analytics tools to dairy producers, their advisors, and companies that provide products and services to those farms.

“Virtus’s ongoing utilization of the My Dairy Dashboard platform to power its white-labeled dashboard will have a permanent positive impact as the platform advances,” Sexton concludes.