GREEN BAY, Wis. — Dairy farmers need to lead with purpose and shape their future and not just react to what happens, said Brett Sciotto of Idealyst Innovation during Dairy Strong, an annual conference focused on the most pressing issues and topics facing today’s dairy farmers.
“Dairy farmers need to be decisive and bold,” said Sciotto, a former U.S. Army intelligence officer. “We have a huge opportunity together as an industry.”
Sciotto founded Idealyst Innovation to help empower American farmers and ranchers solve on-farm challenges and unlock new opportunities through innovation. He said U.S. farmers do a great job driving innovation, but the innovation needs to be done more quickly to keep up in a fast-changing world.
“We need to adapt faster, and we need to think bigger,” he said in the presentation sponsored by Nicolet National Bank. “We talk a lot about collaboration in the dairy industry, but we will need to do that more in the future to continue to be successful.”
Sciotto explained the dynamics now facing the industry are not cyclical but rather a fundamental transformation.
“By aligning your strategic plan, diversifying your revenue, automating recordkeeping, mitigating risk and controlling the variables you can control, you will find success,” he said.
Dairy farmer Rick Adams of Sugar Creek Dairy LLC in Elkhorn, Wis., said while Sciotto pointed out industry challenges, he also discussed opportunities for growth.
“There was a lot of information shared. If you can take the steps forward and adapt to what’s coming, you should be able to make it through,” he said. “(Sciotto) really knows a lot about the industry and the outside forces pushing on it.”
The rise of data and artificial intelligence is another force changing the dairy industry. Sciotto explained how assets are shifting from physical to digital and farmers will have more data at their fingertips, which they can use to their advantage.
External forces currently affecting the dairy industry include global affluence, geopolitics, human health and climate volatility, Sciotto said. He said farmers should do what they can to respond to the issues.
He explained rising affluence around the globe means more people want to eat protein.
“Dairy farmers can be the protein providers to the world through cheese, yogurt and other dairy-based products,” Sciotto said. “That’s a positive for the industry.”
When it comes to geopolitics, nations must build and secure stable food supply systems. Sciotto said this may lead to future shifts in trade policy as countries may shift away from market efficiencies towards what makes sense geopolitically. He said relationships with Canada and Mexico need to remain strong since they are the top two markets for U.S. dairy farmers.
Human health is another industry driver, Sciotto said. “A lot of well-intended innovation in the food sector had a lot of unintended consequences, which led to an American health crisis,” he said. “People are tying their heath to the food they eat.”
Sciotto said dairy farmers produce a lot of healthy food options and it is essential consumers know about them, so they decide to add them to their daily diets.
Climate volatility is another pressing challenge for dairy farmers, Sciotto said.
“It’s here to stay and it’s a huge strategic risk to farmers,” he said. “I encourage farmers to get involved in sustainability programs and producer-led programs that look at some of the biggest issues they’re currently facing related to climate change and continue to take action.”
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