Tradition and innovation co-exist comfortably at Clover Sonoma dairy, located in the verdant rolling hills of Sonoma County, California, an area better known for wine than milk.

The dairy cooperative Dairy Farmers of America said 2016 sales fell 2% to $13.5 billion as net income rose 40% to $38 million. The retail and fluid milk/ice cream divisions also grew.

Sartori's Reserve Black Pepper BellaVitano has been named the best cheese in the 2017 U.S. Championship Cheese Contest. First runner-up belongs to Terry Lensmire of Agropur.

Nearly 2,000 cheese industry leaders, suppliers and cheese manufacturers will gather in Madison, Wis., for the Wisconsin Cheese Industry Conference (WCIC) to share information about the latest in cheese technology, new products and issues affecting the cheese, butter and whey industries.

Agropur acquired the assets of Scotsburn Cooperative Services Limited. Based in Longueuil, Quebec, the purchase allows Canada’s largest dairy cooperative to expand its presence in the ice cream and novelties market.

Election 2016 will go down in history for plenty of reasons. But somewhat overlooked amidst the more sensational results were the decisions in San Francisco, Oakland and Albany, Calif., Boulder, Colo., and Cook County, Ill., to begin levying what have become known broadly as “soda” taxes.

To see how White Clover Dairy grew up to become Arla Foods, it helps to look at a series of aerial photos hung in the entrance hallway to this cheese plant in Hollandtown, Wis. In the first image there is a farmhouse near the original plant. Later images show how expansions to the plant crept closer and closer to the house. Eventually, the plant completely surrounds the farmhouse, and in the last image, the house is gone. These additions over the years turned the facility into a 110,000-square-foot plant.

For product innovators, creators and sellers, knowing and anticipating the habits of consumers is a necessity. The switch from three meals a day to multiple mini-meals is one change that hasn’t stumped us, but empowered us to think differently about how snacks are presented.