American Dairy Association North East Opens Nominations for Independent Producers
American Dairy Association North East (ADANE) is seeking nominations from independent dairy producers for seats on its Board of Directors. The organisation represents about 9,000 dairy farm families in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware and four counties in northern Virginia.
ADANE defines an independent producer as an active commercial dairy operator who sells raw milk directly to private processors or independent milk handlers, rather than through a dairy-marketing co-operative. The nomination process is intended to give producers using non-co-operative marketing channels a direct role in regional checkoff governance.
The board includes producer representatives appointed by regional dairy co-operatives as well as elected independent farmers. Its leadership is headed by Audrey Donahoe of Clayville, New York, who serves as president, and Lolly Lesher of Bernville, Pennsylvania, the first vice-president.
Board members attend regular governance meetings, review consumer-marketing data and oversee programme spending. ADANE’s regional work covers milk promotion, nutrition education and consumer-trust initiatives, including retail, food-service and youth-wellness campaigns.
Under the federal Dairy Production Stabilization Act framework cited by the organisation, 10 cents of the mandatory 15-cent-per-hundredweight checkoff assessment is directed to qualified state and regional promotion bodies. ADANE’s programmes include school breakfast and meal initiatives such as “Grab and Go” and hot-chocolate milk, supermarket partnerships focused on dairy-aisle merchandising, and “Virtual Farm Trips”. It also runs nutrition programmes linked to collegiate sports.
Independent milk handlers and private processors in the region supply specialty cheese, ultrafiltered milk and cultured dairy products. Producers selling directly to those businesses may operate under component-pricing systems, quality premiums and hauling agreements that differ from those used by farms supplying co-operative pools. The organisation said independent producers selected for the board would take part in decisions on promotion priorities and the use of checkoff funds.
