As we approach a new year, we have the opportunity to revamp our goals and re-plot our course, combining wisdom from past experiences with hopes and dreams for our future. It’s a time to shed what we’ve learned doesn’t work and to refresh our approach to endeavors ahead.

How’s the dairy foods business? Which one? If you sell natural cheese or Greek yogurt, then the answer is: Great. If you bottle milk or package ice cream, then the answer might be: Things could be better.

How do processors create value in a commodity item like milk? They add flavors and functional ingredients, make it more portable and seek new channels of distribution.

Milk has nine essential nutrients, but not everyone knows that. It's time to bust the myths associated with milk, including the one saying whole milk is the only milk containing vitamin D.

Trucks hauling milk from Associated Milk Producers Inc. member farms to manufacturing plants will log 44,000 miles in 24 hours — or the distance to travel roundtrip from Anchorage, Alaska, to Key West, Fla. — four times.

Start with something healthy, and then make it better. That’s the basic recipe for creating a value-added milk-based beverage. Traditionally, the three largest and most active claims about dairy beverages regarded digestive/gut health, heart/cardiovascular health and bone health. But, in recent years, the market has seen many novel dairy beverages that tout energy, immune health, weight control, satiety, anti-aging, skin health, beauty, eye health, joint health, mental acuity and concentration.

Milk consumption by low-income consumers in developing markets is forecast to increase 10 billion liters by 2014. As their wages increase, so will their spending on dairy beverages and other foods.

Everyone knows the woes of milk consumption. It has been in a steady decline for years. Once a person exits the ‘tween years and enters the teens, milk is about as relevant as a subscription to Tiger Beat magazine. Heavy drinkers of the stuff are ages two through four; 90% of this age group consumes milk, compared to 61% for those ages 50 and older.

To rehydrate and refuel after intense exercise, it doesn’t get any better than flavored milk. According to Nancy Clark, MS, RD, internationally-known board certified specialist in sports dietetics and author of "Nancy Clark’s Sports Nutrition Guidebook," flavored milk has what it takes to help athletes recover: carbohydrate to refuel muscles, high quality protein to build and repair muscles, water to replace fluid losses, sodium for fluid absorption and retention, and calcium for bone health.

At its milk processing plant, Alabama’s Organic Dairy Products produces milk and dairy products with a cream top, using a low-temperature pasteurization process.