Session 2 Synopsis

      The second session was really a great eye opener into the legislative process in California.  This was a much needed review for me–it's been since high school that I really went over the legislative process.  I was looking forward to learning a great deal throughout this session and also getting to meet with new people and spending time with my fellow classmates.

      The first night, we met for dinner with Gary Conover, a lobbyist for Western United Dairymen, and Jim Collins, a consultant.  We met at the Broiler Room where we enjoyed a nice dinner where Gary and Jim gave us a good intro to the legislative process in California.  Gary passed out papers to us expanding on what we talked about.  I had a hard time fully understanding all of what we talked about but throughout the week, everything sank in well.

     The second day started out with a tour of the State Capitol.  We went into the upper levels of both the Senate and Assembly buildings and also got a great tour of the outer gardens.  The history was very interesting to me and certainly made me appreciate the Capitol building.  After our tour, we sat in on a Senate meeting in the Labor and Industrial Relations division.  They were reviewing bills and moving or closing them.  The bills were introduced, given defense and offense, and then voted upon.  We watched a few bills go through and then were off to meet with different Assembly and Senate members.  We met with many Assemblymen and women, as well as Senators.  I enjoyed meeting and talking with all of them.  I was especially impressed with David Valadao (R - Assembly) and Fiona Ma (D - Assembly).  David is a dairyman from Hanford area and was a very comfortable guy to be around.  Easy going and told it like it is.  He did not come off as a politician, but as a man who genuinely cares about where the state is headed.  Fiona was very impressive to me also, in that she took time to learn about agriculture and where her food comes from by visiting many places.  She handed us a three sided document full of places she had visited; dairies, vineyards, water districts, wineries, olive orchards, cotton, row crops and citrus, just to name a few.  I was very impressed by her drive to learn about the industry.

      Finally, on the third day we were introduced on both the floors.  Senator Cannella introduced us on the floor of the Senate and Assemblyman Valadao introduced us on the floor of the Assembly.  This concluded our week in Sacramento.  Overall I really enjoyed this session.  It was nice to meet and talk with members and also learn about the legislative process as well as the history behind it all in California.  I really appreciated Gary Conover giving us the inside scoop and showing us the Capitol, introducing us, and teaching us; I really enjoyed everything.  I will be looking forward to the next session in August!

A Tour of the Capitol

Today's tour of the Capitol included the Senate (in red)...

the Assembly (in green)...

a Tiffany's rendition California seal...

gorgeous views of the Rotunda...

the Capitol rose gardens and...

just to round things out... 5,000+ protestors!

We had a great 3-day government experience!

Session 1 Synopsis

This first session was definitely a great kick-start to get the Dairy Leaders Program rolling this year.  I enjoyed getting to meet everyone as well as getting to learn more about the program and what it entails, in addition to getting to learn from the first few classes.

The first day was an excellent start to the program.  Dr. Neil Koenig gave a superb session on the basic roles of leadership, which got me focused on what the program is designed for right from the start.  In the evening we had a very nice dinner with guests Mr. and Mrs. John Vlahos.  John was very interesting to learn from as he had a very important part in sculpting the milk pooling system in place in California today. 

During the second day, we spent a majority of our time at the California Milk Advisory Board's office in San Francisco.  This was the media-training day.  We started out with Jennifer Giambroni, from CMAB, and also Jennifer Reinhard, by going over key strategies on how to talk to the media.  We focused on striving to tell the story we want to tell rather than what they are asking.  After reviewing and watching both good and bad interviews, we were up in front of the camera.  At the end of the day we went on a Sunset Bay Cruise with the group as well as our guests Mark Looker, and Mr. and Mrs. Dino Giacomazzi.

The third day was focused on marketing and the roles of both companies in the industry, as well as ourselves as producers.  Maureen Bligh came and talked about Dairy Council of California and all that they do promoting nutrition and milk as part of a healthy lifestyle, as well as educational events like the mobile classroom.  Then Kevin Vogt from Hilmar Ingredients came and talked to us about what they are doing to push not only cheese from the parent company, but to promote the value added products such as whey protein isolates.  From there, Mark Looker came and talked to us about marketing from a personal point of view and getting connected to the news we want right now.  Dino Giacomazzi finished off the point by explaining to us the different ways we communicate now and pointing out that we as an industry have lost touch with the common people and need to rekindle that through embracing current communication methods.  Finally Kris Costa from California Milk Advisory Board came and gave us an overview of CMAB's history and the role they play in marketing California cheese and milk products through advertising and other venues.

This session was very valuable to me, I feel I learned a great deal from it and came back encouraged with a new perspective on how important it is not to only take care of the dairy and be with the cows, but to get out there and be a voice for the industry as a whole.  A change that I would like to see made would be to have more time spent outside of the classroom in a more "lab" setting with the class. I thoroughly enjoyed the session, however, I would have to say that I really pulled a lot from Dr. Neil Koenig and Dino Giacomazzi.  I was challenged with a new perspective on my role as a producer in this industry, which I really enjoyed.  In conclusion, I am looking forward to the remainder of this class and am very excited to learn more and get to meet more people who share the same passion for dairy.