By Corby Werth, MMPA Board Member and UDIM Board President
Hello! For those I haven’t had a chance to meet, I’m Corby Werth, a dairy farmer from Alpena, in northeast Michigan. I’ve been married to my wife Melissa for 29 years and we have two children, Annalee and Carson. We’re excited that this fall Annalee and her husband Mitchell will give us the title of grandparents.
I farm with my son, my brother and my dad. We milk 400 cows, raise 1,500 acres of crops, including corn, hay and soybeans. I am the 4th generation and Carson is the 5th on our farm and we’re committed to ensuring the next generation can farm, if they choose.
I have served on the Michigan Milk Producers Association board for 10 years. As a cooperative board member, that allowed me to see the other aspects of our dairy community. One that has become something I’m passionate about is dairy promotion, as I’ve served on the United Dairy Industry of Michigan (UDIM) board of directors for 15 years.
Through my time in dairy checkoff, I’ve also had the opportunity to serve on the national dairy promotion board. Those meetings have yielded some great conversations about the state of our industry across the country.
One theme that arises is how we need to think differently about dairy promotion. I’m proud to say that our team in Michigan does that, they are always looking for new ways to meet consumers on our behalf, in ways we can’t while we’re on the farm.
Another conversation point is that we need to ensure our promotion dollars are going further to meet more people. This conversation last year with my peers from Florida quickly took flight and led to UDIM board members and staff talking with and then forming a strategic partnership with Florida Dairy Farmers (FDF).
Earlier this year we officially launched our partnership, and the staff is busy connecting the organizations, learning from each other and implementing programs in both states.
In Florida, they see an influx of consumers with a population of 23 million and many more who visit each week. They are also seeing a decline in dairy farms. As a collective group, we will ensure that dairy promotion dollars are meeting those consumers who are making food purchases each day.
Through this partnership, we’re thinking about the result, how can we get more dairy to more consumers. This doesn’t have to follow traditional geographical boarders; it can involve areas that have more consumers than milk partnering with areas that have more milk with a consumer base that’s staying level.
In April we held our first Advisory Committee meeting to get to know the FDF board members, to learn about their state and to hear how staff are already working to bring our vision to life and continue telling the dairy story.
I encourage you to read the monthly promotion emails, read the quarterly updates mailed to each farm and sign up for text messages. If you’re not receiving these, please call the UDIM office at 517-349-8923.
This article was originally published in the May/June 2025 issue of the Milk Messenger. Subscribe »