Over the ages, people have debated the great questions. Marvel or DC Comics? Jimi Hendrix or Eric Clapton? Betty or Veronica? Paper or plastic?

In recent years, magazine publishers have been debating the future of their industry. Print or online? I’m here to settle the question once and for all. The answer is an unequivocal: both! No, that’s not a cop-out. A printed buyers guide, like the one in your hands now, is just as useful and relevant as an online directory. The content is the same, but each has its advantages. 

Over the ages, people have debated the great questions. Marvel or DC Comics? Jimi Hendrix or Eric Clapton? Betty or Veronica? Paper or plastic?

In recent years, magazine publishers have been debating the future of their industry. Print or online? I’m here to settle the question once and for all. The answer is an unequivocal: both! No, that’s not a cop-out. A printed buyers guide, like the one in your hands now, is just as useful and relevant as an online directory. The content is the same, but each has its advantages.

This guide is on your desk or a reference shelf, ready to be cracked open when you need to look for equipment, ingredients, parts, packaging or a distributor. It is ready to use. You don’t have to boot up anything or log in anywhere to use it. Believe it or not, you don’t need Google for this to work. Better yet, this printed directory is ready to go to work even if you lost an internet connection.

Our Buyers Guide & Sourcebook organizes products into seven broad categories: equipment, packaging equipment and materials, ingredients, distribution, research and development/quality control, sanitation and maintenance, and services and supplies.

The sourcebook side of the equation includes listings of state, regional and national organizations that are relevant to the dairy processing industry. These include trade associations, promotional boards and university departments. The Food Industry Suppliers Association even shared its state-by-state membership list with us. And, three buying groups provided profiles about their organizations and the benefits they provide dairy processors.

We also put this information online at www.dairyfoods.com. You’ll thank us for that when you are working from home, killing time in an airport lounge or prepping for a meeting away from the office. The online version of the buyers guide is an important part of our website content.

You should make it a habit to visit our website regularly. We post dairy-related news several times a week. We update our blogs regularly. Mondays feature the FSI Report, which tracks dairy-brand activity in the free-standing inserts. Midweek, executive editor Marina Mayer writes on marketing programs by dairy processors. On Fridays, my Dairy Case wraps up the week’s news.

I also invite you to “like” us and visit us on Facebook, follow @DairyFoods on Twitter and join the Dairy Foods magazine Professional Network on LinkedIn.

As you can see, Dairy Foods is in your hands or in the “ether” every day of the year. 


Jim Carper is chief editor of Dairy Foods. Phone: 847-405-4009. Email: carperj@dairyfoods.com.