July 2011 Highlights « Back

Fuel Up to Play 60 in Iowa

Midwest Dairy Council awarded six $1,500 grants to school districts proposing expansion of Summer Food Service Programs with an emphasis on healthy eating and daily exercise that includes promotion of at least three servings of dairy a day. The following Iowa open school summer food service sites received grants:

• Diagonal CSD
• Mount Ayer Elementary School
• Des Moines Public Schools
• Sioux City School District
• Howard-Winneshiek Community School District
• Van Buren Community Schools

Other Iowa Updates

We have a new Iowa Dairy Princess!  She is Gina Fisher of Clayton County, crowned this week as the State Fair opened. Gina’s parents are David and Mary Fisher of Edgewood. The Alternate Princess is Jessica Hammerand of Dubuque County, daughter of Jeff and Tammy Hammerand of Epworth.  There were seven great contestants in the event this year.

The Fair highlights include:

• New signage is helping us to share dairy farmer stories. Concession stands in the dairy building and Agriculture Building feature updated welcome signs and menus. In the cattle barn at the Boulevard of Breeds, a photo display highlights a dedicated farm family, the Eilers. At “Little Hands on the Farm,” a second fiberglass cow was added to give children the chance to practice hand-milking. An informational poster accompanies the new cow named Bessie.
• We’re sampling new Yoplait Frozen Yogurt Bites -- frozen yogurt with a fruit-flavored filling coated in granola -- and TruMoo, a lower sugar chocolate milk by Land O’Lakes, in the display at the Agriculture Building.  
• We provided and served the ice cream for the 100th birthday of the Iowa State Fair “Butter Cow.”  The event also honored the late Norma “Duffy” Lyon of Toledo. Another butter-related event is a daily “battle of the butter.” Each team will have 30 minutes to carve something original and creative out of 55-pound butter blocks, donated by AMPI.
• Visitors to the fair can pick up two popular free items in front of the Butter Cow area and at the Iowa Department of Agriculture display in the Agriculture Building. A new recipe brochure featuring dairy and a flyer highlighting facts about flavored milk are free resources to fair-goers as they stop by to view the exhibits.

Midwest Dairy is pleased to announce that Chris Freland has joined Midwest Dairy as the Health and Wellness program coordinator located in the Ankeny office. Chris will be supporting the Health and Wellness team in general but will also be concentrating much of her work activities on the Iowa Division. Chris comes to us from United Health Care as a marketing specialist. Chris was also a licensed practical nurse at the McFarland Clinic and a former dairy farmer. Chris received her B.S. in kinesiology and health from Iowa State University and her LPN from Marshalltown Community College. Chris completed a public health internship at the Iowa Department of Public Health working in the Bureau of Nutrition and Health Promotion. Chris’ first day was June 13.

On July 15, Midwest Dairy was able to help move forward the second Iowa Dairy Industry Outlook Meeting. This event, chaired by Larry Shover, brought together producers, processors and agribusiness professionals from across the state to discuss the future of the dairy industry in Iowa. By the end of the day, the group had generated ideas, goals and potential roadblocks for dairy in Iowa. The next meeting is set for late August to begin discussing exactly how these ideas and goals will be reached.

We were busy with multiple promotional events during June in conjunction with Dairy Month. Events across Iowa attracted thousands of people and were an integral part of educating the public about where their food comes from.

• Calmar Dairy Farm Open House

This event was held on the Northeast Iowa Community College campus farm and attracted about 625 people from the surrounding communities. The Iowa State Dairy Princess, Kendra Moser, was there to welcome visitors, who had a chance to take a guided tour of the facilities.

• Iowa State University Dairy Farm Open House

The dairy farm belonging to Iowa State University attracted more than 1,000 people to observe how their milk is produced. Each commodity group also had a table with activities for visitors. Midwest Dairy had a spinning wheel and gave out a variety of prizes. Kids lined up for the opportunity to get a cow hat and black and white spotted sunglasses.

• Dairy Night at the Iowa Cubs Game

While at the Cubs Game, we reached thousands of attendees that walked past our table and grabbed a free milk. There was also an “ask a farmer” area where anyone could ask a dairy farmer about their farm and how they care for their cows. The dairy princesses threw the first pitch and were asked out to the field for multiple activities between innings.

• Blanchard Family Farm Lunch

To the surprise of the event planners, this event in eastern Iowa captured the attention of almost 2,000 people from the Davenport and Dubuque areas. Midwest Dairy had a tent with activities staffed by area dairy princesses. At one point, there was a line about 200 yards long of people waiting to walk through the milking parlor.

• Van Ess Dairy Open House

As a farm that milks about 3,000 cows, Van Ess Dairy was a great location to host an open house and more than 1,400 people were in attendance. Viktor the Viking was also there to engage the attendees and give out autographs. He did a great job walking through the crowds and making sure each child was able to give him a high-five. Some visitors even had the opportunity to see a cow have a calf during one of the tours!

• Iowa Games

On July 15, the Iowa Games sponsored by the Iowa Food and Family Project held opening ceremonies on the Iowa State University campus. There was entertainment, blow-up obstacle courses and free food for the athletes, families and members of the community. To receive a free meal, the attendees had to fill out a survey and answer questions like “What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word farmer?” and, “If you could ask a farmer any question, what would it be?” Midwest Dairy had a table display where visitors talked with a farmer and answered questions for a prize.  In addition to visiting with many consumers, this event raised about $2,000 for Iowa’s food banks to purchase nutritious, delicious dairy products!