2024 May Board Book

California Milk Advisory Board 2023 In Review

Each year we put together this review to share highlights of the many programs the California Milk Advisory Board develops to build demand for the milk you work hard to produce every day. It’s difficult to encompass everything we do, including retail and foodservice outreach, building and maintaining international markets, driving product innovation, and connecting with consumers, but this summarizes the major activities in these areas. The overarching economic factor driving performance in much of the food industry in 2023 was inflation. Despite a reduction in the inflation ‘rate’, the cumulative effect over the last few years has been significant – a fact our dairy community is well acquainted with. A gallon of milk was up 28% and a pound butter was

up 25% since 2019. That places our focus on delivering value and looking for growth opportunities. Value is a complex equation and is about more than the traditional quality or quantity for a price. It includes our California provenance and the emotional benefits of dairy like family, fun, and satisfaction. When it comes to the products made with your milk, cheese continues to be California’s biggest growth opportunity. Pizza, despite its ubiquity, still has plenty of growth, the popularity of Hispanic and Mediterranean -style cheese is increasing, snacking and party trays have taken off, and private label is strong. In addition, we continue to see tremendous opportunity for extended shelf-life milk, in both international and domestic markets. CMAB’s overarching vision is to nourish the world with the wholesome goodness of Real California Milk but, ultimately, our job is about driving demand for California dairy products. The table here summarizes the areas of focus and the tools we use to do that. The ensuing pages feature a sampling of some of the programs we developed in 2023. We look forward to connecting with you at upcoming district meetings.

TOOLS OF DEMAND BUILDING

MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS • Consumer Research • Position Strategy • Advertising (TV, digital, search) • Public Relations • Social Media • Crisis Management BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT • Trade/Market Analysis • Processor Partnerships • Retail/Foodservice/E-commerce • Trade/Consumer Promotion • International Market Development • Product Innovation

John Talbot, CEO