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California Cheese and Butter Association's
Opportunities in Northern California!
There are two events in Northern California that you can become
involved in to help support the CCBA. On Sunday, October 20, 2002 the CCBA will
once again have a booth at the Susan G. Komen “Race for the Cure”. Located in
Golden Gate Park, the race supports the wonderful cause of fighting breast cancer.
Please call Tom Ditto at (925) 828-6165, ext. 284 if you would like to donate your
Sunday handing out cheese, recipes, coupons, etc., (donated by the CCBA Members).
Of course the donated items we hand out have yet to be solicited so also call if
you’d like to donate product!
Secondly, the planning of the May, 2003 convention in Monterey is
underway with a committee chaired by Jennifer Mullen of the California Milk
Advisory Board. We could use a few more volunteers to assist in various tasks such
as activities, obtaining silent auction items, etc. Please step forward to help
Jennifer and her team in planning the convention. The reward of helping the
convention to be a success is well worth the time. If you're interested in being on
the committee, call our office at (925) 672-8255. Get involved!
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The
Newsletter of the California Cheese
& Butter Association
ISSUE 22 AUGUST
2002
Lisa Waters, Editor
CCBA Member Survey Results
As you may remember, the CCBA Board sent out an anonymous survey to the membership
in late May that asked several questions regarding the Convention and general
membership experience. We had a return rate of over 30%, which was fantastic!
A great deal of valuable information was obtained, along with some terrific
suggestions. The Board of Directors has reviewed the survey results and is
already working on implementing many of the suggestions that were received.
Special congratulations go to Hugh McConville for winning the $100.00 Nordstrom
gift certificate!
Here is a brief overview of the collective survey learnings:
1) General Information:
- We have many new members and we need to
find ways to get them more involved in the CCBA.
- Need to identify those members willing to be the
future leaders of the Association. [Editors Note: Please
call our office any time if you are interested in becoming
more involved!
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2) Convention:
- Generally, the convention works well and does not require a
major overhaul although small improvements will be welcome.
Definitely keep the small, intimate feel of our Convention.
- Need strong speakers for the business meeting and must find
ways to increase attendee interaction – to get everyone introduced
and participating.
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- Reducing spouse costs, keeping hotel resorts “first class” and
small/intimate, providing activity choices other than golf and
“package pricing” all Convention costs were some repeated suggestions.
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3) Membership Experience:
- Nearly 75% of respondents would like to see more regional CCBA
events in addition to the annual Convention. These should be educational
events that also provide networking opportunities. A “dinner with
featured speaker” program was the most-requested type of activity.
- Consumer education and tasting events were also mentioned as important
parts of CCBA’s mission. Our L.A. County Fair participation this year
was seen by several as a good effort in this direction.
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4) Moos and Website:
- Need to get Moos articles assigned and contributed by many members.
Need to draw on the considerable expertise of all our members.
[Editors Note: Please contact me any time if you have an idea for
an article or would like to regularly contribute to the Moos.
We always have room for member news and articles on our industry!]
- The website was noted as being much-improved over recent months.
Most suggestions focused on ideas for making the site as “consumer-friendly”
as possible.
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2002 - 2003 CHEESE BLOCK MARKET FORECAST
Here is the block market forecast based on Class III milk futures closing prices of August 16, 2002 and the application of our cheese-conversion formula:
| September '02 |
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$1.206 |
| October '02 |
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$1.246 |
| November '02 |
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$1.300 |
| December '02 |
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$1.307 |
| January '03 |
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$1.333 |
| February '03 |
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$1.335 |
| March '03 |
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$1.340 |
| April '03 |
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$1.339 |
| May '03 |
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$1.339 |
| June '03 |
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$1.356 |
| July '03 |
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$1.395 |
| August '03 |
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$1.385 |
You may recall that in the May Moos the futures market was predicting a block
of $1.48 for September 2002, but we noted that if the economy and the weather
stayed relatively cool, lower prices could be expected. It is nice to be right
once in a while, however, noone could have imagined that the market would remain
this depressed for this long!
With, seemingly, nowhere to go but up, the futures market now is calling for
a steady price recovery over the next several months. Demand should pick up
behind some more aggressive fall and holiday promotions, yet a sharp spike in
cheese prices is unlikely while milk production continues to grow.
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CCBA is sponsoring a booth at the L.A.
County Fair in Pomona, September 13 – 29, 2002.
Thank you in advance to all of the companies who agreed to participate.
We look forward to a very successful event! If you are in the area,
please stop by the “Milk Carton” in the Fairview Farms area. |
| CCBA Welcomes Our New Members |
Berry Plastics Corporation
David L. Anderson |
Paul Mueller Company
Michael Bither
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2003 Annual Convention
May 1 - 4
Monterey Plaza Hotel & Spa
Monterey, California
******************************************
2004 Annual Convention
April 22 – 25
Rancho Las Palmas Marriott
Resort & Spa
Rancho Mirage, California
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| MARK YOUR CALENDARS! |
The CCBA is working on
scheduling a “holiday luncheon” with a featured speaker the week of
December 2, 2002 in Southern California. More details will follow.
*****************************************
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The Temecula Valley Balloon and Wine Festival is scheduled for June 6 – 8, 2003
at Lake Skinner in the Temecula Wine Country.
Sponsorships vary from $2,500 to $5,000. The festival will also be working
with major market radio to obtain promotional advertisers who will receive
benefits including radio commercials that feature the food product and mention
that the products will be at the festival on June 6 – 8, 2003. These sponsorships
will be very limited but will range from $10,000 to $15,000 with the bulk of the
sponsorship fees going to the radio commercials.
If you are interested in participating, please call our office for further information.
Any misspellings or
misinformation are the sole responsibility of the editor. Suggestions, additions,
or comments are very much appreciated
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