By Joe Diglio, MMPA President & CEO
For years, the Michigan Milk Producers Association (MMPA) has navigated our member-owners growth while maintaining financial strength in order to react to the evolving dairy environment. It’s critically important to have a strong, fiscally responsible cooperative that is capable of being there for members by looking for opportunities to enhance value.
One great example from this year is the acquisition of Superior Dairy in Canton, Ohio. With our shared values and vision, the acquisition has allowed us to come together to actively engage in the process of servicing an industry in need of continuous advancement. We will accomplish this by exploring and creating added-value products and technologies through innovations. By having an engaged and active board of directors who constantly seek new opportunities, all members should have confidence in the direction of our cooperative. As we move forward, we are continuing to look for more ways to service the marketplace, utilizing the creativity and different organizational aptitudes that came with the acquisition.
We can’t capitalize on serving the marketplace without dedicated employees committed to our shared goals. MMPA’s key assets aren’t just our manufacturing presence and equipment used to produce the products, but also the many employees who work on our members’ behalf. Just like the dedication we witnessed during the pandemic, we’ve seen a seamless transition throughout the acquisition with our employees staying committed to our mission and our vision. While we’ve had challenges like anybody in the marketplace with securing labor, we’ve also seen remarkable commitment from the employees who have been a part of this organization to keep our business moving forward. As we look into the future, it will not only take employees to advance our organization, but the innovations they seek out and deliver to achieve our desired results.
In the marketplace, 2022 has been a different year. We have transitioned from a market saturated with excess milk to a tighter milk supply causing increased competition in the dairy landscape. Today’s environment has given us the ability to relook at how we service the marketplace, including reviewing the use of our new assets: Creative Edge and Superior Dairy. As we move forward, with the many consolidations that have taken place over the last couple years, servicing the market will be much different than it has been in the past.
Through efforts in 2022, we’ve grown our footprint to accommodate voids caused by consolidation, diversified our product mix to rely less on volatile commodity markets, and addressed consumer desires in the process. We’re looking forward to continuing those efforts in 2023, along with investing in technology and product mixes that require us to think outside of the box, take some risks and make room for further growth. Partnerships will be key for our success in the future and I’m excited for what’s to come. I can’t say enough how important it is to be mindful and thankful for all of those that work together to generate the results that we have. The team that works on behalf of MMPA members and owners is a great team and I’m excited to share more of the good work with you in the future and for many years to come.
This article was originally published in the November/December 2022 issue of the Milk Messenger. Subscribe »