HARRISBURG - Butler County Commissioner and Butler dairy farmer Jim Kennedy was elected the first president of the Center for Dairy Excellence when the group met for the first time on Dec. 22 in Harrisburg.

Kennedy, who owns a dairy farm in Penn Township and lives in Middlesex Township, is also the chairman of the Pennsylvania Dairy Task Force.

He said that as president of the center he would help coordinate the actions of the seven-member board of directors with the 90-member task force.

"As a Butler County farmer and commissioner, I am very excited about being elected president of the board," Kennedy said.

The center also elected a board of directors and completed its work to become a nonprofit organization at the meeting.

"The center is the initiative of state Secretary of Agriculture Dennis Wolff," Kennedy said. "With the board leadership and finalization of nonprofit status in place, we are looking forward to advancing the mission of the Center for Dairy Excellence."

The center's goals include growth, education, producer succession, economic development, legislative aid and broader use of the department's programs and services.

Kennedy said the board would reach out to dairy producers and processors across the state.

"We want to bring added profits to farmers and producers," Kennedy said. "It is important we provide open communication and strong leadership."

Gary Heckman, executive director of the CDE, said the center was established through the work of Wolff and Gov. Ed Rendell.

"Secretary Wolff put together the Dairy Task Force to assess the individual performances of dairy farms in the state and to identify opportunities available to the industry," Heckman said.

The recommendations the task force gave to Wolff led to the development of the CDE.

Pennsylvania is the fourth largest dairy producing state in the nation.

Heckman said before the CDE was established the task force didn't have a way to help coordinate the direction of the industry.

He said several programs have been created to help dairy farmers across the state.

One of the programs is the Profit Team, a pilot program that puts a farmer together with a group of industry members to help make critical decisions for the farm.

According to the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, 10 farms from across the state were chosen for the program, each one ranging in size, location and management style.

"The Profit Team is a program where a group of dairy professionals - such as nutritionists, veterinarians, lenders and milk testers - work with farm managers," Heckman said.

Heckman said the group analyzes a current farm situation and finds ways it can be improved.

Heckman said producers and processors throughout the industry would feel the impact of the CDE.

"The dairy industry is a very competitive one, and we are the only processor left north of Pittsburgh," Rita Reifenstein of Marburger Farm Dairy Inc. on Mars-Evans City. Road in Evans City said Reifenstein said. "We have great farmers in southwestern Pennsylvania and all of our milk comes from them."

A risk management-training program has been delivered to producers and agri-business professionals across the state.

"The CDE has been able to tie the whole industry together and make it more efficient," Heckman said.

The CDE has a working relationship with the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development to increase the support and availability of programs for the dairy industry.

It also provides a "dairy voice" to and from the state Department of Agriculture.

"We have the people and resources to increase profitability on our farms and to provide unity within the dairy industry," Kennedy said.