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Dairy West summarizes programs, revenue and regional marketing work to the committee
Summary
Jenny Nelson, interim CEO of Dairy West, presented the organization's mission, program areas, regional structure and 2024 financials — including an $18–19 million revenue figure and contracted services — and described school, retail and sustainability initiatives funded by a producer assessment.
Jenny Nelson, interim chief executive officer of Dairy West, told the House Agricultural Affairs Committee that Dairy West — the regional marketing organization serving Idaho and Utah dairy producers — focuses on building consumer trust and demand through branded consumer campaigns, school and food-service programs, retail initiatives and sustainability storytelling.
Nelson described Dairy West's funding model: the organization operates under a dairy checkoff assessment, which she said is a 15¢ assessment on farm milk production, with 10¢ staying in the state for local marketing and 5¢ going to the national dairy promotion board. She said a quarter of the state 10¢ is routed to the United Dairy Industry Association (UDIA) for national alignment and that an on-farm policy assessment of 1¢ per hundredweight supports Idaho Dairymen's Association policy work.
Nelson reviewed program areas including farm-to-school education, school and collegiate nutrition work, retail front-end cooler pilots that she described as driving a 90% increase in units sold in participating stores, influencer and digital campaigns with reported return-on-ad-spend metrics, and producer-facing workforce and research partnerships with universities. The presentation included a draft financial summary for 2024; Nelson said Dairy West brought in about $19,000,000 in 2024 and that roughly $17,000,000 is shown as contract services the Idaho Dairy Products Commission contracts to Dairy West to perform promotional programming on its behalf.
Representative Achilles asked Nelson to break out the $17,000,000 contract-services line; Nelson explained that the amount represents assessment revenue the Idaho Dairy Products Commission contracts to Dairy West for programming and staffing. Nelson also described the organization's cash reserves (about $12,000,000 in LGIP and money markets, as reported in the draft financials) and said the board was ratifying a budget timeline that would finalize spending proposals in November.
Nelson said Dairy West is adding a staff position focused on sustainability and farmer relations to better tell on-farm sustainability work. The presentation was informational; committee members asked for further detail on contract-services and milk-component questions, and Nelson offered to follow up with technical staff where necessary. No legislative action or committee funding decision was recorded in the transcript.
