On Monday March 24th the North East Kingdom Dairy Farmers Group welcomed Dr. Adam Lock at the Cow Palace Restaurant in Derby, VT from 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM.
Dr. Adam Lock is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Animal Science at the University of Vermont. Dr. Lock was brought up on his family’s dairy farm in England, where he also received degrees from the University of Nottingham. He then moved to Cornell University where he began working as a Research Associate working with Dr. Dale Bauman’s group. Dr. Lock’s research focus involves the regulation and manipulation of ruminant lipid metabolism, allowing improvements in the efficiency of animal production and providing opportunities to design foods that are consistent with consumer perceptions and dietary recommendations.
Dr. Lock led a lively conversation as he presented his thoughts on milk, science, and marketing. He generated a lot of discussion with the group on various topics from the science behind the components of milk to marketing of raw milk. He suggested that today’s marketing is damaging to the milk market as a whole by confusing the consumer and creating incorrect assumptions for the general public. He emphasized that marketing should be less focused on scientifically unproven statements and more on unifying the dairy image against its competitors, such as Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and bottled water. He raised some startling points, such as that for every 1 person that switches to drinking organic milk, 2 more switch off milk completely due to confusion about the product and the cost of purchasing the presumably ‘better’ product.
For more information about the North East Kingdom Dairy Farmer Group, please contact Kelly Langmaid at Yankee's Newport office. 800-370-2738
