America’s dairy farmers set a goal of empowering children to eat healthier and move more seven years ago. This is why they created – through their dairy checkoff – the school-based Fuel Up to Play 60 program in partnership with the NFL and with support from USDA.

Dairy farmers, through their promotion checkoff investment, made it a better summer for a lot of kids again through summer feeding programs that bring milk and other nutritious foods to those in need across the country.

New England Dairy and Food Council The Fuel Up to Play 60 van made its rounds to various summer meal kickoff events across the New England region to provide fun activities and education materials for kids and families. One of its stops was at Milton Town Schools in Vermont on June 17.

The Center for Dairy Excellence Foundation of Pennsylvania has opened registration for its dairy education programs for the 2016-2017 academic school year. These free-to-use resources are available to elementary, middle and high school educators who are interested in incorporating STEM-based dairy education into their classroom curriculum.

Millennials are a critical audience for the dairy industry. These consumers (born between 1981 and 1997) have surpassed baby boomers as the nation’s largest living generation, numbering 75.4 million, according to the U.S. census.

Land O’Lakes Inc. and its seed and crop input brand, WinField, recently partnered with Fair Oaks Farms, a 30,000-plus-cow dairy in Fair Oaks, Indiana, to build a 12,000-square-foot exhibit on the dairy’s agritourism campus.

Dairy has been a mainstay ingredient on McDonald’s menu since the quick-service restaurant’s beginning more than 60 years ago.

The dairy promotion checkoff was started by farmers to increase sales of dairy products here and around the world. Key to that is keeping consumers and others as dairy “champions” – showing them that dairy and dairy farmers are important contributors to society.

Your staffs are working in a variety of ways to get dairy and nutrition equipment to more kids. Here are some local highlights:

Holstein Association USA will unveil new “ideal Holstein cow and bull” models on June 30, during the 2016 National Holstein Convention in Saratoga Springs, New York.