Growing together with customers like Debbie Witschen, Store Team Leader, Super Target, Shoreview, Minn.

Land O'Lakes is a growing presence among America's food lovers. Through a combination of aggressive marketing and an intense focus on operational excellence, the Dairy Foods Value-Added Group at Land O'Lakes enjoyed a strong year in 2001.

While higher butter and cheese prices—and a late-year economic slowdown—resulted in soft product volumes industrywide, Land O'Lakes outperformed the competition in its core butter category. In addition, the cooperative positioned its farmer-owned system for future growth in dairy-case cheese.

Land O'Lakes capitalized on its number-one position in deli cheese in 2001 by increasing its operating efficiency and improving inventory management to produce significantly improved earnings. Foodservice also had a positive year, building on its number-one market share in foodservice butter and spreads, and significantly growing its foodservice cheese volume.

Strong margins in the Value-Added Group are driven, in part, by the strength of the LAND O LAKES brand. In a new branding campaign slated to launch in February 2002, the Value-Added Group has chosen to speak to consumers' desire to rediscover a simpler, back-to-basics lifestyle anchored in simple foods. The new brand positioning that was chosen—"Simple Goodness Living"—is, in many ways, what Land O'Lakes has stood for all along. Land O'Lakes 80-year heritage in Dairy Foods has been built on pure, natural dairy products. The Value-Added Group believes that highlighting these attributes will help to distinguish Land O'Lakes from the competition in the future.

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