Tag: International Dairy Federation

Jonker Honored as NMPF Represents U.S. Producers at World Dairy Summit

Posted on by Rachel Ravencraft

An NMPF delegation collaborated with counterparts on shared dairy priority areas including trade, animal welfare, the use of dairy terms, dairy promotion and other topics at to the International Dairy Federation (IDF) World Dairy Summit in Santiago, Chile, Oct. 20-23.

The summit marked the end of NMPF Chief Science Officer Jamie Jonker’s five-year term as chair of IDF’s Science Program Coordinating Committee. Jonker spoke at the IDF Forum session, which featured a review of IDF’s key projects this year and priorities for 2026.

Jonker also received an honorary IDF membership recognizing his tenure as SPCC chair and his contributions to the organization and to dairy globally. Jonker has “demonstrated remarkable leadership, guiding the Federation through numerous changes and challenges with purpose,” the IDF Board of Directors cited in its recognition.

NMPF President and CEO Gregg Doud and NMPF Executive Vice Presidents Jaime Castaneda and Shawna Morris participated with U.S. Dairy Export Council and checkoff program leaders in bilateral meetings, including with the Indian Dairy Development Board, Dairy Farmers of Canada, Eucolait, European Dairy Association, Nestle, the Mexican dairy sector, and the Chilean dairy sector. The meetings provided the opportunity to exchange information on developments in key markets of interest to the U.S. dairy industry and explore the potential for further work together on shared interests.

Castaneda and Morris spoke on a panel discussion about ensuring that government-led dairy nutrition policies are guided by objective scientific evidence, a key message that will frame next year’s Latin American Dairy Nutrition Conference in Lima, Peru coordinated by NMPF and the U.S. Dairy Export Council in collaboration with the National Dairy Council.

Additionally, William Loux, who heads NMPF and the U.S. Dairy Export Council’s Joint Economics Team, shared the U.S. perspective of the current economic landscape on a separate panel session.

As a precursor to the summit itself, NMPF co-led a roundtable session of animal care programs around the world. Launched in Chicago during the summit hosted by the U.S. in 2023, the roundtable provides a valuable avenue for fostering information sharing and alignment steps by leading animal care programs such as FARM.

The annual gathering of more than 1,000 dairy industry professionals from around the world provides an opportunity to promote the U.S. industry and collaborate with global partners on the sector’s most significant trends and opportunities.

IDF World Dairy Summit a U.S. Dairy Opportunity

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

The International Dairy Federation (IDF) World Dairy Summit brings unique opportunities for U.S. dairy as the host nation for the Chicago event, to be held next Oct. 16-19. The global conference returns to the United States for the first time in three decades, at a moment when rising exports and world-leading sustainability gives the U.S. industry a great story to tell, according to three leaders in organizing next year’s events.

“It’s a really exciting time for our industry, and we think that there’s a tremendous opportunity, a tremendous amount of potential that dairy, globally, has here,” said Shawna Morris, Senior Vice President for Trade at the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) and the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC). “Looking at how we tap into that together is what we’re focused on doing through the conference.”

“Bringing all of these folks to the United States creates an opportunity to get folks into facilities, to get them out to farms, to really show the rest of the global dairy industry what the U.S. dairy industry is all about,” said Nick Gardner, chairman of the U.S. International Dairy Federation, the Senior Vice President for Sustainability and Multilateral Affairs at USDEC, and with Morris the co-chair of next year’s summit.

“This is an excellent opportunity for the U.S. dairy industry to highlight its world leading dairy production from the farm through our cooperatives and processors and out to the consumers,” said Jamie Jonker, NMPF’s chief science officer and chair of IDF’s Science Program Coordinating Committee. “It’s a way for us to step on the world stage, reintroduce U.S. dairy, its innovation and technology to the global marketplace, and demonstrate how we are world leaders.”

Morris, Gardner and Jonker also discuss how the dairy community can get involved with supporting the event, already highlighted by platinum-level sponsor Dairy Management Inc., as planning for it is already in full swing. More in the summit can be found here. You can find the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and Amazon Music.