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Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative Association (MDVA) today congratulates Joanna B. Shipp, of Boones Mill, Virginia, for her recent election as Chair of the National Dairy Promotion and Research Board (Board).

“We are thrilled for Joanna Shipp, one of our own, to be elected as Chair and leading voice for dairy farmers in the United States,” said Jay Bryant, CEO of MDVA. “Joanna will leverage her knowledge to ensure that farmer’s dollars are being spent in a way that will advance the U.S. dairy industry.”

The Dairy Research and Promotion Program, also known as the Dairy Checkoff Program, is a national producer and importer program for dairy product promotion, research, and nutrition education. To fund the program, U.S. dairy farmers pay a 15-cents per hundred-weight assessment on their milk and importers pay 7.5-cents per hundred-weight on dairy products imported into the U.S.

Joanna Shipp is a seventh-generation dairy farmer. Alongside her father, she milks 225 cows and farms over 1000 acres of owned and rented ground. Joanna’s volunteerism, farm experiences, and ability to identify the latest trends have contributed to her continued success on the Board. This is Joanna’s second, and final, 3-year term with the Board.

“Our farmer-driven Board works together to promote the scientific evidence behind the nutritional properties of milk,” said Shipp. “As Chair I will continue our strategic effort to work alongside physicians, nutritionists, and government leaders to create and enforce policies which acknowledge the nutritional power of milk.”