DAIRY NEWS – Effective transition planning, creating new markets, building strong team cultures, and a commitment to quality are all hallmarks of top-performing businesses. During the 2024 Managers Academy for Dairy Professionals® presented by Professional Dairy Producers® (PDPW), dairy executives will spend a day learning how leaders in the crawfish, rice, baseball equipment and pet food industries faced challenges in these areas and addressed them with innovative solutions.
The three-day, executive-level program will be held January 9-11, 2024, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and feature out-of-industry tours of the Tietje Crawfish Farm, South Louisiana Rail Facility and Rice Mill, Marucci, and Fluker Farms. Managers Academy is designed for dairy owners, managers, CEOs, industry directors, processors, marketers and distributors, combining networking and tour experiences with world-class training programs.
Registration for the 2024 academy is currently open, with a special discounted hotel rate at The Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center available through Dec. 26, 2023.
“Out of industry tours are always a highlight of the Managers Academy, and 2024 will be no different. There is always a ‘light bulb’ moment in conversations with executives in different industries who have found exciting solutions to some of the same issues we face in the dairy industry,” said Steven Orth., Cleveland, Wis., dairy producer and several-time Managers Academy attendee.
Each stop will include a behind-the-scenes tour and conversations with business executives. At Tietje Crawfish Farm in Roanoke, Louisiana, Burt Tietje will provide an up-close look at the 65-acre pond where crawfish are raised, demonstrate the harvesting process, and show how crawfish are cleaned, graded and distributed. He’ll also share details about the biology and ecology of the unique creatures and insights on the I-10 Crawfish Cooperative and product marketing.
At the South Louisiana Rail Rice Mill, attendees will see the $6 million rail-loading facility built by the Louisiana Independent Rice Producers with the goal of taking back control of their market. Hear about how the 150-member group invested their own dollars, time and talent to form new alliances and reach new markets, and how consolidation is creating new challenges to navigate.
Baseball equipment manufacturer Marucci began with making handcrafted bats in a backyard shed in 2004, growing to be the leading producer of wooden baseball bats for the Big Leagues, as well as aluminum and composite bats and other baseball and fastpitch softball gear and apparel. The tour will deliver an inside look at how a work environment that fosters innovation, teamwork and continuous improvement has built Marucci’s impeccable team culture.
Selling feed mixes, nutritional supplements and other supplies for reptiles direct to consumers and to retailers like Petco and Walmart gives Fluker Farms unique insights into their target market. The family-owned business is establishing a succession plan for incoming team members and the third and fourth generations to ensure the success and sustainability of their business with a focus on educating people on breeding and raising reptiles.
The academy’s training programs will be facilitated by three management, ethics and economic experts, including: Jacob Shapiro, partner and director of geopolitical analysis at Cognitive Investments as well as chief strategist at Perch Perspectives; Jason Karszes, dairy farm management specialist with the PRO-DAIRY program at Cornell University; and Dr. Richard Kyte, PhD, endowed professor of the D.B. Reinhart Institute for Ethics in Leadership at Viterbo University.
They will lead attendees through focused sessions on the impact of global and regional trends on the dairy industry, best practices for dairy management and highlight strategies to increase employee engagement, retention and productivity while building an ethically responsible culture.
Learn more about the 2024 Managers Academy for Dairy Professionals, including speaker bios, daily itineraries, available continuing-education units, and register at www.PDPW.org or contact PDPW at 800-947-7379. Follow along digitally in advance of and during the event by following @dairyPDPW on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
Professional Dairy Producers (PDPW) is the nation’s largest dairy producer-led organization of its kind, focusing on producer professionalism, stakeholder engagement and unified outreach to share ideas, solutions, resources and experiences that help dairy producers succeed.
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