Dairy Processing - March/April 2024 - 42

OPERATIONS
Leading the way
Dairy processors operate with a focus on
resilience and creating value for stakeholders.
by Allison Gibeson | dairyprocessing@sosland.com
D
eveloping forward-thinking business practices and
initiatives are priorities across manufacturing sectors,
and dairy processors are implementing responsible
frameworks that will guide the industry into the future.
Environmental, social and governance (ESG)
considerations and policies driven by the investment
community have become commonplace in the dairy industry
to demonstrate assessment, reporting and mitigation of
environmental and social risks when considering financial
analysis, said Eric Hassel, director of sustainability,
measurement and reporting at the Innovation Center for US
Dairy, Rosemont, Ill.
Hassel said this has caused dairy processors to shift their
thinking from considering how they can maximize profits in
the short term to focusing on what they can do to ensure longterm
resilience and mitigate risks.
Managing against a broad set of ESG-related goals and
risks reflects the mainstreaming of the idea that businesses
can create value for stakeholder groups beyond shareholders.
Mike Aquino, director of ESG for the International Dairy
Foods Association (IDFA), Washington, said dairy processors
are striving to meet the expectations of customers, employees,
consumers, non-governmental organizations and others, as
well as investors. Additionally, he said regulators are showing
increased interest in corporate sustainability management, in
part to drive standardization.
42 MAR-APR 2024 | DAIRYPROCESSING.COM
" If your customers are not already ... asking you to manage
things and share data in a transparent way, it's very probable
that at least some jurisdiction will be regulating and demanding
that sort of data and transparency in the future, " Aquino said.
FORMALIZING EXISTING PRACTICES
For many processors, approaching business with a mindset of
resilience isn't new.
" It's about long-term risk management, " said Paul Snyder,
executive vice president of stewardship for Tillamook County
Creamery Association, Tillamook, Ore. " That's something that
is not only necessary for processors, but it's part of who we
have been ... it's really part and parcel of how we have done
business and how we need to do business. These long-term
risks are ones that, if they are managed properly, can create
value for all the stakeholders, and if they're managed poorly,
they will destroy value. "
Snyder said Tillamook takes seriously its duty to help
maximize the performance of the farmer owners that are a
part of its business.
" Our farmers, like all farmers, always think beyond the
borders of their farm when they think about their business, "
Snyder said. " 'How am I taking care of the local community
that supports me? How am I managing the ecosystem and the
environment around me so that we've got a healthy bit of land
with good quality water?' "
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Dairy Processing - March/April 2024

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