MAKING VIRTUAL A REALITY ON DFA’S PODCAST

2020 has been a year of challenges. This month’s episode of Talk Dairy to Me, DFA’s podcast featuring all things innovation, dives into one of those challenges — working virtually — and how teams across DFA have adapted to this new virtual reality.

Our host, Doug Dresslaer, director of cultural innovation, kicks off the podcast by thanking those essential workers including our family farm-owners and employees who continue to head to work every day to put nutritious dairy on families’ tables across the nation and around the world.

But for many employees at DFA, their new reality has been working remotely. Doug talks dairy with teams across the Cooperative including Human Resources, Ingredient Solutions and Risk Management to showcase the ways they’ve gotten creative to get their jobs done — while doing it virtually.

Listen today by searching for Talk Dairy to Me wherever you listen to podcasts, such as  Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talk-dairy-to-me/id1287369344), Google Play or Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/3cpDvmlgL6dpoYyavq8RH0), and make sure to subscribe.

DAIRY FARMERS ARE THE ORIGINAL CONSERVATIONISTS ON DFA’S PODCAST

It’s no secret that dairy farmers love their animals. What’s lesser-known is how much they care about the environment and the land that they — and all of us — depend on.

Dairy farmers have always been stewards and conservationists of the land, with centuries-long traditions of caring for their animals and farming responsibly. They are also innovators, looking toward solutions for a more sustainable future. On this month’s episode of Talk Dairy to Me, DFA’s podcast featuring all things innovation, we’re looking at the ways dairy farmers, DFA and the agriculture industry as a whole are making huge strides in sustainability.

Our host, Doug Dresslaer, director of cultural innovation, kicks off by talking dairy with David Darr, senior vice president and chief strategy and sustainability officer at DFA. They discuss the rich traditions of sustainability in our industry and how DFA will work to achieve our aggressive sustainability goals.

Next, Doug chats with Kevin Chase, the chief investment officer at Vanguard Renewables, a company focused on turning farm waste into renewable energy.

If you’re not hungry now, you’ll likely want a snack after listening to this month’s episode of Talk Dairy to Me, DFA’s podcast featuring all things innovation.

The two food entrepreneurs we’re highlighting this month each started dairy foods companies with unique and delicious products focused on one of our favorite pastimes: snacking. Both companies participated in DFA’s CoLAB Accelerator this year.

Our host, Doug Dresslaer, kicks off by chatting with Eric Ciancaglini, CEO and founder of Chank’s Grab-N-Go (https://chanksusa.com/), a handheld snack company reimagining how you eat pizza, Philly cheesesteaks and more. They chat about how the company is reinventing the cone and its recipe for success. Next, we turn to Andrei Garbuz, CEO and founder of YAAR Bar, which produces Nordic chilled dairy snacks. Andrei tells us about the healthy snacks, why they’re making the switch from filling their bars with quark, a mixture of cow’s milk and natural lactic acid, to Kefir yogurt and how the company is bringing the delicious goodness of dairy to handheld snacking.

From turning manure into water, transforming excess milk into fabrics and packaging, and a new method for tracking mastitis in cows, we’re talking to ag-tech innovators on this month’s episode of Talk Dairy to Me, DFA’s podcast featuring all things innovation.

The three entrepreneurs featured in this month’s episode have all started companies building products to help revolutionize the dairy industry and are participating in DFA’s CoLAB Accelerator this year.

Our host, Doug Dresslaer, director of cultural innovation, kicks off by chatting with Gil Hakim, chairman and CEO of Armenta (https://armentavet.com/), which is helping treat bovine mastitis in cows using acoustic technology. Next, we talk manure with Karen Schuett, CEO of Livestock Water Recycling (https://www.livestockwaterrecycling.com/), which developed a process to turn manure into usable and, yes, drinkable water with the hopes of eliminating manure lagoons on farms. And, just when you thought it couldn’t get any more inventive, we turn to Robert Luo, CEO and founder of Mi Terro (https://www.miterro.com/), which creates fabric from milk proteins (end result: t-shirts) and uses the same technology to create new and sustainable packaging to replace plastic.

On this month’s episode of Talk Dairy to Me, DFA’s podcast featuring all things innovation, we’re talking to some whey warriors. These three entrepreneurs have all started companies doing new and exciting things with whey and are participating in DFA’s CoLAB Accelerator this year.

Our host, Doug Dresslaer, director of cultural innovation, kicks off by chatting with Dr. Juan Guzman, CEO and co-founder of Capro-X (http://capro-x.com/), which is taking acidic whey waste from Greek yogurt production and turning it into bio oils. Next, Melissa Martinelli, CEO and co-founder of Superfrau (https://www.drinksuperfrau.com/), tells us why it’s time to drink your whey, especially her company’s electrolyte drinks made from upcycling surplus whey. And by the time you’re feeling thirsty and ready for a cocktail, we hear from Emily Darchuk, CEO and founder of Wheyward Spirit (https://www.wheywardspirit.com/), which takes excess whey from the dairy industry and turns it into a smoother, better tasting and more sustainable farm-to-flask spirit.

These companies are showing us that there’s so much more to this byproduct of cheesemaking and other great dairy products than you ever thought possible.

Learn more about CoLAB, DFA’s evolved innovation program, its upcoming launch to DFA employees and the plans for the program in the coming year.  Plus, host Doug Dresslaer talks with members of the Consumer Insights team to learn about some innovative new team projects they've been doing to better understand consumer trends.

On this month’s episode of Talk Dairy to Me, DFA’s podcast featuring all things innovation, we take a look at innovation in light of the current coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak going on in our world and focus on the good we’re seeing happening at DFA during these unprecedented times.

When we think about innovation, it’s about more than finding new ways to improve processes, people and efficiencies; it also means using innovation to help people.

Learn about DFA’s current donation efforts and how we’re working to ensure nutritious dairy products get to those in need plus our social media campaign #AddAnOunce that highlights all the possibilities of using a little bit more dairy to help support our nation's dairy farmers.

On this month’s episode of Talk Dairy to Me, DFA’s innovation podcast, host Doug Dresslaer chats with DFA Accelerator alum, Bethany Deshpande, CEO of SomaDetect, and DFA member Natasha Sutherland of Stein Farms in Le Roy, N.Y., about how SomaDetect is empowering dairy farmers with the data to make better milk and improve the lives of their herd. Grab a glass and Talk Dairy with us.

This month, Talk Dairy to Me, DFA's podcast featuring all things innovation, gets entrepreneurial.  First, we chat with DFA member Angela Schmid whose family hosts an Airbnb where their guests can hug cows, help with the chores and even camp with the cows!  You'll also hear from DFA member Shelly Grosenick, who cans her own jams as a side hustle to her family's 300-cow dairy.  Jam out to this episode and share with friends!  From all of us here at Talk Dairy to Me, have a wonderful holiday season!