The Milk Producer - December 2008 - (Page 4)

EDITOR’SNOTES By Bill Dimmick THE MILK PRODUCER is published monthly by Dairy Farmers of Ontario 6780 Campobello Road, Mississauga, Ontario, L5N 2L8 EDITOR: Bill Dimmick ASSISTANT EDITOR: Sharon Laidlaw Co-ordinated by Communications and Planning Division, Bill Mitchell, Assistant Director. Change of address notices should be sent to: THE MILK PRODUCER 6780 Campobello Road, Mississauga, Ontario L5N 2L8. Subscription rates: $25.20 for one year, $46.20 for two years and $63.00 for three years in Canada (includes GST), $36 per year in the U.S., $36 per year overseas. Single copy: $2.50. Make cheques payable to Dairy Farmers of Ontario. Canada Post Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement No. 40063866. Return postage guaranteed. Circulation: 10,500. ISSN 0030-3038. Printed in Canada. ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE James Fitzgerald and Associates, 257 Huntingdon Avenue, Stratford, Ontario N5A 6P7. Toll-free advertisers only: 1-888-460-6212 Phone (519) 273-9369/Fax (519) 273-9289 E-mail: jfitzger@milk.org Opinions expressed herein are those of the author and/or editor and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or policies of Dairy Farmers of Ontario. Publication of advertisements does not constitute endorsement or approval by The Milk Producer or Dairy Farmers of Ontario of products or services advertised. The Milk Producer welcomes letters to the editor about magazine content. PHONE: (905) 821-8970 FAX: (905) 821-3160 E-MAIL: bdimmick@milk.org slaidlaw@milk.org DFO WEB SITE: http://www.milk.org/ Our list of seven Let us know if you have other issues we should include ant to start a debate? Come up with a list of the best of something, the worst of something, the most important somethings or the least important somethings. Almost assuredly you are going to omit an item that sparks debate about why it should be on your list. Conversely, a debate may centre on why you included an item on your list that you should have left off. Knowing this, we devised our December cover story anyway. At their best, lists can generate rational discussion, spark reasoned debate and produce valuable ideas when they’re serious. When they’re frivolous, they can at least prompt some good fun. For instance, did the late Mr. Blackwell’s annual lists of the 10 best and worst dressed women of the year really serve a purpose beyond entertainment? One recent morning, I listened to a radio show featuring a report on the top five all-time greatest television superheroes. As I navigated through city traffic, I wondered why a personal favourite from my childhood failed to make the list. My superhero could have whipped that top five with one hand tied behind his back. In the much more serious matter of compiling our list, we settled on seven issues—admittedly an arbitrary number. We could have made it a Top Ten list and included three more items. Or, we could have picked just five and explored each one in a little more depth. I suppose I just have an affinity for seven, widely considered lucky in our society. However, we were not so arbitrary in choosing the issues to fill those seven slots. We looked at issues that arose during the past year and considered whether they would continue to affect the dairy industry in 2009 and beyond. It proved to be an exercise in forward thinking. The order in which we present them isn’t necessarily order of importance. We tried to craft a logical succession from one issue to the next. I would add that several are positive developments that can help our industry move forward and prosper. I have no doubt some of you will question our selected seven, and I applaud you for that. You may have particular knowledge, insight or expertise about a subject you believe has merit on a list of issues our industry should be dealing with. We welcome your comments, and certainly would consider delving into an article on your suggested subject. It would be far from the first time a telephone call, fax or e-mail from a reader sparked an idea we turned into a story for the benefit of all our readers. This development would also mean our list has done its job: generated rational discussion, sparked reasoned debate and produced valuable ideas. W 4 | December 2008 | MilkPRODUCER http://www.milk.org/

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Milk Producer - December 2008

The Milk Producer - December 2008
Contents
Editor's Note
DFO Chair's Message
Dairy Update
DFC Promotion
Industry Roundup
Research
Seven Issues That Matter
Ruminations
Applied Science
Markets
New 'N' Noted
Back Forty

The Milk Producer - December 2008