American Dairy Association North East hosted an online video conference on April 22, for more than 35 county and state dairy princesses and committee members to address dairy industry concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The dairy princess program is an integral part of checkoff’s grassroots promotion, and we know it’s been challenging for those involved to continue educating consumers about dairy as we shelter-in-place,” said ADA North East CEO Rick Naczi. “We’re pleased that the young promoters are using their ingenuity and passion for the dairy industry to find creative ways to support our dairy farmers during these uncertain times.”
ADA North East staff provided the promoters with available resources through dairy checkoff including suggested responses for retail milk and dairy product limits and milk disposal; tips on how to help dairy farmers; positive messages to share on social media; and milk donation examples.
“It was helpful to hear the message from ADANE staff first-hand regarding some of the issues farmers are facing during this pandemic,” said Onondaga County, N.Y., Dairy Promotion Chairperson Heidi Kovalewski. “The video call provided a great opportunity for us to ask questions and to get answers on the spot.”
The Maryland Dairy Princess Association and Pennsylvania Dairy Princess and Promotion Services, Inc., and Virginia Dairy Princess Program host active Facebook pages where they post videos with positive dairy messages, using the information provided by ADA North East. The New York State Dairy Princess team recently started its own Facebook page, as well.
ADA North East manages the New York Dairy Princess Program, and financially supports the programs in Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Virginia. For more information about the dairy princess programs, contact Dawn Houppert at dhouppert@milk4u.org.
About American Dairy Association North East
American Dairy Association North East (ADA North East) is the dairy farmer-funded organization funded by participating dairy farmer’s checkoff investment to build demand and sales for milk and dairy foods throughout the local region. Representing more than 10,000 dairy farm families in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and northern Virginia, ADA North East develops and implements local programs to drive milk and dairy sales at retail outlets and in schools. The organization also conducts consumer education about dairy through events, traditional and social media, and in collaboration with health professionals through National Dairy Council®. ADA North East works closely with Dairy Management Inc.™, the national dairy checkoff organization, to support nutrition research, national partnerships and developing export markets for dairy to bring a fully integrated promotion program to the region. For more information, visit www.AmericanDairy.com, or call 315.472.9143.
