July 24-25, 2008, Mercer’s Dairy, located in Booneville, New York, and their international agent, located in the Netherlands, attended the Midwest Buyers Mission in Chicago, Illinois. Through one-on-one meetings during the Buyers Mission, they made new buyer contacts in Japan, Korea, Panama, Jordan, and Dubai. The company is in the process of shipping a first-time export sale of their traditional ice cream products to Jordan—a minimum of ten pallets of ice cream, totaling $45,000.

Also in 2008, Mercer’s Dairy exported their unique wine ice cream to the Netherlands, using Branded Program funding to offset the cost of in-store promotions and label changes. According to Roxaina Hurlburt, Owner and Director of Marketing for Mercer’s Dairy, “The Branded Program has allowed us to enter markets that were untouchable to us from a budgetary standpoint. This creates a phenomenal opportunity to exhibit at international events, which has increased our profile and opened new doors for our products.” As a result of their expanding export sales, the New York company increased their purchase of New York agricultural products (milk, cream, corn syrup, sugar) by approximately 15 percent.

Mercer’s Dairy has produced premium ice creams for over 50 years. They use the freshest, highest-quality milk from local farms to ensure their ice cream is the creamiest. In 2007, Mercer’s introduced Mercer’s Wine Ice Cream, a product in a food category all by itself. This product unites their premium ice cream with wines from the oldest vineyard in the United States. The product debuted at the Great American Dessert Expo and received the award for “Best New Product.” In addition to their unprecedented, innovative, sophisticated and edgy new Wine Ice Cream, Mercer’s produces over 30 flavors of traditional ice cream and four organic flavors.     

Food Export-Midwest and Food Export-Northeast are private, non-profit associations of Midwestern and Northeastern state agricultural promotion agencies that use federal, state, and industry resources to promote the export of Midwestern and Northeastern food and agricultural products. Food Export-Midwest and Food Export-Northeast administer many services through Market Access Program (MAP) funding from the USDA, Foreign Agricultural Service.