Tipton urges leaders to unleash the industry’s potential

Touching first on the dramatic changes emerging from the Obama administration and Congress, Tipton warned that a flood of new regulations, taxes and mandates may soon become laws of the land.

From health care to food safety, nutrition to cap-and-trade, the industry needs to oppose unnecessary regulations or unjustified fees that will add costs to production without providing benefits to dairy consumers, she said.

“There are businesses and industries that simply cannot weather additional costs in an increasingly competitive and regulated marketplace,” Tipton said. “Our industry isn’t immune to these risks, so we have a real stake in what comes out of this very political process in Washington.”

A lesson the industry learned last year, Tipton said, is that it must listen closely to consumers and provide innovative ideas, products, ingredients and packaging to meet their needs.

“Fundamental to our success will be how well we compete for the consumers’ palate, at home and around the globe,” she said. “We need more people eating dairy and choosing dairy ingredients, and that means we’d better know what consumers are thinking and what’s tickling their taste buds.”

She concluded with a call for industry leaders to confront the current policy climate and all industry challenges with resolve and teamwork: “It’s the only way we can progress, the only way we can win, the only way we can realise the kind of success we all know is possible – the success that is within our grasp.”

Source: International Dairy Foods Association