Town Hall meeting on dairy prices to be held November 6

For nearly a year, low milk prices have hampered dairy farm families. Throughout these financially trying times, numerous producer groups have come together to propose solutions for this challenging situation. On November 6, the Wisconsin Holstein Association will be hosting a forum to discuss remedies for this pressing matter. The town hall meeting will take place on Friday, November 6, 2009, at 1 p.m. at the Kalahari Resort in Wisconsin Dells. The four invited milk marketing and pricing specialists will provide the opportunity for dairy producers throughout the Midwest to ask questions and get answers regarding the proposed guidelines for dairy product pricing. All concerned dairy industry members are welcome to attend.

The panel will involve four industry professionals, and it will be moderated by Hoard’s Dairyman associate editor, Corey Geiger. Industry specialists will be given the opportunity to speak briefly before opening the floor to questions from dairy producers attending the town hall meeting. The panel will include Lucas Sjostrom, Holstein USA’s Government Relations Specialist and Communications Assistant; David Cooper, General Manager for Family Dairies USA; David Fuhrmann, President of Foremost Farms USA; and David Ward, Dairy Director, Cooperative Network.

Even though Lucas Sjostrom’s official title is Government Relations Specialist and Communications Assistant, this summer he spent nearly 100 percent of his “government” time on the Dairy Price Stabilization Program (DPSP). He has been traveling to cooperatives and organizations presenting Holstein USA’s DPSP around the country and developing marketing materials to better explain the program.

David Cooper currently serves as the General Manager for Family Dairies USA, the seventh largest cooperative in the country with 3,300 members in six states. The organization offers testing verification and dairy marketing services, leadership in dairy policy, trade, and Federal Milk Marketing Orders, and programs and activities to its members.

David Fuhrmann became the second president of Foremost Farms USA on September 2001. He is a 33-year veteran of the dairy industry. Fuhrmann’s career with the cooperative began in 1981 when he joined Wisconsin Dairies Cooperative ¾ one of the cooperatives that consolidated to become Foremost Farms USA ¾ to manage the barrel Cheddar cheese production facility at Richland Center, Wis. Foremost Farms is the nation’s eighth largest dairy cooperative and has 2,350 members throughout the Upper Midwest.

David Ward is the Dairy Director of Cooperative Network, based out of Madison, Wis. The largest statewide association of its kind, Cooperative Network is committed to building Wisconsin’s and Minnesota’s cooperative businesses. Cooperative Network serves more than 600 member-cooperatives, owned by more than 6.3 million Wisconsin and Minnesota residents, by providing government relations, education, marketing, and technical services for a wide variety of cooperatives, including farm supply, health, dairy marketing, consumer, financial, livestock marketing, telecommunications, electric, housing, insurance, worker-owned cooperatives, and more.