Agenda

DairyTech 2023’s agenda is designed to help all attendees quickly understand the impact that technology is having throughout the industry.

Day 1 – Wednesday, May 17

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3:30pm – 6:30pm

Grass to Glass Innovator Series

From transportation and farming technologies to ingredients solutions and lab-grown milk, technological advancements in the dairy industry are abundant. DairyTech will feature the latest dairy research, developments, and future trends that may impact your organization. Exhibitors will share expertise and innovative solutions for the betterment of the dairy supply chain, from end to end. Attendees will be able to experience end to end solutions and innovations in our Grass to Glass Innovator Showcase.

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4:00pm – 4:30pm

Opening Session: World-Leading Technological Innovation

Michael Dykes, President and CEO, International Dairy Foods Association
Scott Sexton, CEO, Ever.Ag

The U.S. dairy industry is embracing digital transformation, driving new applications and technologies across the supply chain, and hardening its cyber defenses to emerge as the world’s leading supplier of affordable and sustainable dairy nutrition. Join us at this opening session as conference co-hosts Michael Dykes, president and CEO of IDFA, and Scott Sexton, CEO of Ever.Ag, outline the technological innovation needed for the U.S. dairy industry to outcompete international competition. Michael and Scott will open the audience’s eyes to the world of possibilities that exist for U.S. dairy in the digital age. You won’t want to miss their insightful and inspiring opener on innovative solutions that will transform the dairy industry.

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4:30pm – 5:30pm

Innovation through Startup Collaborations: Tapping the Agility of Startups to Accelerate Corporate Innovation

Rabobank Foodbytes

In our current inflationary environment, startup collaboration isn’t always the first lever corporates pull to execute their innovation goals. Yet successful collaborations with startups can solve corporate pain points like driving efficiency and increasing farmer yields. This session, led by Foodbytes, Rabobank’s global innovation platform, will explore the challenges and best practices of technology adoption for the dairy industry. We will discuss how to overcome misalignment between corporates and startups – and the role venture funding can play in fueling win-win collaborations. We’ll hear from a startup, corporate and investor on their approach to building innovative solutions and remain ahead of the curve.

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5:30pm – 6:30pm

Keynote: Venturing Wheyward to Create Sustainable Innovation

Emily Darchuk, Founder and CEO, Wheyward Spirit

In this session, you will hear the wheyward journey that founder Emily Darchuk took from CPG product developer to entrepreneur in bringing to market her company, Wheyward Spirit. Wheyward Spirit is an innovative solution that upcycles whey waste into an award winning speciality spirit where consumers can taste a difference and make a difference.

Learn how she is partnering across industries to make food chains more efficient and effective and how collaboration between the dairy industry and entrepreneurs can drive more sustainable innovation from farm to flask.

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6:30pm – 7:30pm

Reception

Day 2 – Thursday, May 18

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7:30am – 3:30pm

Grass to Glass Innovator Showcase

From transportation and farming technologies to ingredients solutions and lab-grown milk, technological advancements in the dairy industry are abundant. Dairy Tech will feature the latest dairy research, developments, and future trends that may impact your organization. Exhibitors will share expertise and innovative solutions for the betterment of the dairy supply chain, from end to end. Attendees will be able to experience end to end solutions and innovations in our Grass to Glass Innovator Showcase.

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7:30am – 8:00am

Networking Breakfast

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8:00am – 9:00am

The Most Impactful Technologies Dairy Businesses Should Be Using

Boston Consulting Group

Join us as experts from Boston Consulting Group illuminate useful explanations and insights on the most impactful and of-the-moment technology that is improving the supply chain from end-to-end, including cloud, artificial intelligence, and more. Our speakers will discuss the unique benefits they can provide to the dairy industry, and even explain how to deliver additional business value through agile and customer focused approaches to their applications.

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9:00am – 10:00am

Successful End-to-End Supply Chain Digitization for Dairy and Beyond

It’s one thing to talk about applying technology to the supply chain, but actually doing it can sometimes feel daunting. During this session, we’ll focus on real-time stories from people who have successfully digitized their company’s supply chain, from both the dairy and meat industries. Our speakers will share unique insights into how they overcame the challenges of this change and ultimately repeated the benefits. The emphasis of the discussion will be on practical application, rather than theoretical concepts, and attendees will come away with a better understanding of how technology can truly transform supply chain management through digitization and the data is provides.

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10:00am – 10:30am

Networking Break

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10:30am – 11:30am

The Next Generation of U.S. GHG Markets

Moderator: Matt Herrick, Senior Vice President, IDFA
Paul Myer, CEO, Athian
Chris Malone, Head of Field Data Solutions, Indigo

GHG emissions reduction programs and carbon marketplaces are generating consistent returns for farmers after many years of promise. Driven by the efforts to reduce harmful greenhouse emissions, various industries and companies have committed to become “net zero” by 2050, including the U.S. dairy industry. Aided by domestic renewable energy standards and growing carbon marketplaces, the food and agriculture sector is quickly becoming the focus of intense investment by entities and individuals looking to gain from agriculture’s capacity to act as a GHG sink. But the costs of installing the hard infrastructure to capture GHG emissions—namely, methane digesters and pipelines—can be prohibitive for many farmers and their supply chain partners. At the same time, a plethora of technology solutions for measuring, tracking, and reporting GHG to public and private authorities are emerging, providing farmers and agribusinesses with options—some would say too many options.

Yet for carbon markets to play their role as a tool for climate mitigation in the United States, there needs to be predictable demand for affordable carbon credits and reliable capital to invest in the capture and measurement of GHG. In essence: A new supply chain is emerging based on a new feedstock—manure. What will the future of renewable energy and carbon markets look like from U.S. dairy’s perspective? In this session, we talk with a leading renewable energy company, a quickly emerging GHG software solutions provider, and one of the nation’s leading carbon marketplace providers on what’s next for GHG markets in the United States.

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11:30am – 12:30pm

Futureproofing Cybersecurity in the Dairy Industry

McKinsey & Company

What should management and the board do to prepare in an environment of escalating destructive and disruptive attacks? What are the right questions to ask and what are the red flags to look out for? As cybersecurity regulations increase, so too do the expectations of board members’ familiarity with cybersecurity-related concepts. Yet in an environment of rising inflation and shrinking margins, how do we simultaneously protect and grow our business? This session will review cybersecurity trends, discuss the intensifying threat landscape, and share valuable insights dairy companies can take to “futureproof” their cybersecurity programs.

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12:30pm – 1:30pm

Networking Lunch

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1:30pm – 2:30pm

Dairy Technologist Panel

Moderator: Tom Wojno, Senior Vice President of Innovation and Member Advancement, IDFA
Richard Scheitler, CIO, Darigold
Meeghan Jones, Director of IT, Cabot Creamery Co-operative

Back by popular demand, we’re excited to have a distinguished panel of dairy technologists joining us to share their insights and perspectives on the intersection of dairy and technology. How are they are positioning their companies for prosperity to meet demands of today’s changing, and tomorrow’s global marketplace? What new innovations and systems are they implementing in their businesses to increase efficiencies, address workforce issues, and grow their operations? We’ll cover these and many more topics with our panel of experts.

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2:30pm – 3:30pm

Fireside Chat: DairyTech 2023 Reflections from a Supply Chain and ESG Innovator

John Church, Former General Mills Supply Chain and Transformation Officer
Duane Banderob, COO, Ever.Ag

As a wonderful way to wrap up everything we’ll learn at DairyTech 2023, John Church, former General Mills Chief Transformation and Enterprise Services Officer, will share his thoughts on what we’ve learned from our speakers and what he believes it takes to successfully lead technology-based supply chain transformation. This thoughtful discussion will be a great opportunity to learn from an industry-leader’s first-hand insights, reflections since retiring, and even advice he’s collected advising others tackling these challenges in today’s continuously changing landscape.