Dairy farmers are a hardy bunch.

Despite less than ideal driving conditions, the turnout was still pretty good for the 11th Annual Manitoba Dairy Conference held this week in Winnipeg. Dairy Farmers of Manitoba's (DFM) Annual General Meeting is wrapping Friday at the Victoria Inn.

Chair David Wiens says one of the highlights from the past year was the development of a National Ingredient Strategy.

"Nationally we agreed on another class of milk and basically it's a competitively priced class and we're looking at this class giving processors some alternatives in terms of where they get their products from in terms of cheese processing and other dairy products."

Wiens notes they're looking at increasing demand not only for dairy products...but also there is increasing demand on the protein components of milk. The strategy will encourage more investment in production in this area to further enhance growth of the dairy industry in Canada.

Wiens notes other highlights from the past year included work on the proAction program and the prospect of increased processing capacity in Winnipeg.