I was simply blown away when I walked through the doors of the School Nutrition Association’s (SNA) Annual National Conference.
Everywhere I looked, there were people (more than 6,600) and exhibitors (850-plus) who were gathered around a mission shared by dairy farmers: to help assure the best nourishment possible for our nation’s school children.
I soaked in every moment of my three days among these leaders who are on the front lines of making sure school children are served nutritious meals – including dairy – every day in cafeterias across the country.
When I thought about schools previously, my kneejerk always has been to talk about school milk packaging. But after being part of the SNA conference, my view of what is required to nourish kids and the role the dairy checkoff plays with these school leaders and the progress being made is greatly enhanced.
This year’s conference took place in Denver, not too far from where my husband Jim and I operate Blue Sky Dairy. National Dairy Council (NDC) has the SNA conference circled on its annual calendar and is joined by its state and regional checkoff colleagues as one of the onsite exhibitors.
Farmers are invited to work the NDC exhibit area so we can represent the true source of all the dairy that is served in schools nationwide. Afterall, these school nutrition professionals aren’t that different from the average consumer in not having a connection back to the farm.
I was joined by Audrey Donahoe, a New York dairy farmer who serves as chair of NDC. Together, we engaged with many professionals who had questions about how we farm and all that goes into caring for our cows and land. They showed appreciation for the hard work farmers do to produce food and a few even asked to take photos with us!
Dairy earns praise
Feeding school children is a tremendous responsibility. Nearly 30 million school lunches are served every day – almost 5 billion a year – and dairy holds a prominent place in those offerings. In 2022, 3.8 billion pounds of total dairy were served for breakfast, lunch and summer feeding programs with most of that being fluid milk (3.4 billion pounds).
The passion these leaders have for their students was apparent and so many spoke of the hardships many kids face with our country’s hunger crisis. For a lot of students, schools may be the only place they get a balanced meal, so it is critical they receive nutritious offerings such as milk and dairy foods. Our products received high praise from these professionals for their powerful nutrient package.
One of the positive takeaways at SNA was seeing all the innovation that is occurring. The possibilities ran the gamut, but I was encouraged to see some focused entirely on dairy. For example, the checkoff is engaged with Chartwells K12, a food management company that serves more than 2 million meals every day in 4,500 schools representing 665 districts across the U.S.
The checkoff partnered with Chartwells K12 and General Mills on a pilot program to implement smoothie programs in schools. It may not be the traditional way of getting kids to consume milk but it’s the sort of effort that is needed to make sure they are getting dairy’s benefits. It’s clear that if we are to remain part of a student’s dietary choices, we have to be relevant and offer our products in a way that appeals to them.
Smoothies are a great way of making that happen and an educational session held during the conference addressed this very subject. Representatives of this partnership with the checkoff shared how the results of the pilot program held in 130 schools showed smoothies were positively received by students and school foodservice teams. Consumption of dairy indeed increased!
Another key conference moment focused on NDC and SNA announcing a joint educational awareness campaign called Made With School Lunch. Its goal is to inspire and inform educators, students and the community about the positive benefits and outcomes made possible by nutrient-rich school lunch. It’s an exciting opportunity and another example of how our checkoff is working with the right organizations to help maintain and grow dairy’s positive place in schools to benefit child nutrition and wellness.
I don’t have to remind my farming peers of the many economic challenges we are facing today. It’s sometimes hard to find the positives in times such as this.
But I can assure you there were plenty to be found at the SNA conference where there was no shortage of reinforcement and appreciation for the hard work we do and people working to bring our products to new levels of innovation.