Tillamook Cheese completed and commissioned the first phase of its Boardman, Ore. facility in the summer of 2001, shortly before the September 11 attacks. The security issues addressed in the design of the first phase were no less important, but somewhat   different from those in play when the plant was expanded in 2005.

Editors Note: This year’s Cheese Trends Spotlight includes three elements. This introductory article looks at the broad trends and opportunities in all facets of the U.S. cheese market. A feature from the Wisconsin Milk Marketing board forecasts the hot trends of 2007 and looks at some innovations from Wisconsin. Finally, there is a preview of the 2007 Wisconsin Cheese Industry Conference.  

Pomegranates, blueberries, cherries, and cranberries are in demand, portion control is hot, and if there is going to be growth in the ice cream category, some manufacturers are betting it will be organic-certified organic that is.

Also this month, Cheese Trends Spotlight

Early each year, ice cream makers share with Dairy Foods their plans and predictions for the upcoming ice cream season. A big surprise in putting together this year’s Ice Cream Outlook was the discovery that frozen yogurt is back. And just as we were putting this issue to bed, the New York Times ran a story about the hot Los Angeles fro-yo chain Pinkberry and its many imitators.

There are a few questions about milk that we can probably stop asking.

I ran into a gas station food mart deep in Chicago’s south suburbs recently to get a gallon of whole milk for the kids. Elsie was right there where I’d expected her to be, but as I pulled the jug from the case, a couple of facings of the Quaker Chillers caught my eye.

CLOVIS, N.M.-Tom Gathright had never worked for a food company before Southwest Cheese hired him away from the paper and pulp industry. Gathright is the environmental mgr. at the massive new cheese plant that recently sprouted up from the irrigated earth in the middle of the nation’s fastest growing milkshed.

For dairy processors focused on organic and natural milk, 2006 might have been even more tumultuous than it was for the rest of the milk business. A simmering dispute over pasture access boiled over, Wal-Mart phoned in a big order, and conventional dairy processors began to introduce “naturally produced” milk, setting up a middle category of milk made without the use of rBST, but also without adherence to the USDA organic standards.

After years of trial and tribulation, the U.S. dairy industry may have finally turned the tide on declining milk sales. Numbers available at press time indicate that overall volume of milk sales for 2006 will likely add up to about 1% growth over 2005.

There will be a homecoming of sorts in San Antonio at the end of March. Dairy and ice cream’s logistics, distribution, and fleet management professionals will gather for the 37th installment of the Dairy Distribution and Fleet Management Conference.

Hard to believe that 2006 has come and gone. And where has it left North America’s dairy industry? Well, in a slightly different place from a year ago, that much is certain.