USA – The dairy industry must be willing to take more risks if it is to grow in today’s competitive marketplace, according to Connie Tipton, the president and chief executive of the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA).

Speaking at the IDFA’a 2004 Dairy Forum in Florida, USA, he said that the industry must recognise that the world has been changing around it, and that it had not necessarily been changing with it.

She warned that the tradition of focusing on production rather than brand development and marketing meant that the dairy market had failed to make the most of opportunities presented by trends such as the Atkins diet.

Although she applauded some examples of innovation, he labelled the industry members as “risk avoiders” on the whole. She suggested that some level of complacency had set in as far as producers in the USA were concerned, because even government programmes were designed to take the risk out of the business.