“We need to commit to leading and developing new markets,” said Randy Mooney. “We need to commit to leading and innovation on the farm and in the retail chain, not just to producing what our factories have always produced because we don’t have enough money to change our factories,” Mooney told those attending the joint annual meeting of the National Dairy Promotion and Research Board, the National Milk Producers Federation, and the United Dairy Industry.

“We must understand what the consumer wants,” restated the lifelong Missouri dairyman. “Then, we must figure out how we can work together more closely and get it done.”

Need for consolidation
“I looked at a map the other day of co-op plants in the United States,” said Mooney. “We have plants, on top of plants, on top of plants. At current milk prices none of us can afford what we need to do in any of the plants,” he told fellow co-op members in the audience.

A new way forward
“Let’s figure out a way to consolidate some of these plants and change them to what consumers want,” said the dairyman who also serves as chairman of the Dairy Farmers of America cooperative.

“We need to commit to leading. We need to commit to being leaders of a knowledge-based industry that is looking down the road and around the corner, not just doing what we’ve always done,” said the co-op leader.