Quality Recognition Umpqua Dairy Products Company of Roseburg, Oregon, has earned the Irving B.

Weber Award for Total Quality Excellence, the highest honor from the QCS Purchasing Cooperative's Dairy Quality Excellence Program. The award was announced at the QCS Annual Conference in Plano, Texas. The 2026 honor marks Umpqua's fifth consecutive Weber Award and its 12th overall. The company has also been named a Weber Award finalist 25 times.

Program Scope Umpqua was recognized as a 2026 Dairy Quality Excellence Award winner and Weber Award finalist in two categories: Cultured Products and Ice Cream. The Irving B. Weber Award recognizes dairy plants on product quality, food safety, and operational performance. The program dates to 1944 and is named for Irving B. Weber, whose vision guided the QCS Dairy Quality Excellence Program for more than 80 years.

Industry Context "Winning the Weber Award once is a significant achievement.

Earning it five years in a row speaks to a culture of quality that is deeply embedded throughout Umpqua Dairy," said QCS Purchasing Cooperative President and CEO Ken Klug. "Their team continues to set an exceptionally high standard, and we are proud to recognize that commitment." Klug added: "Umpqua Dairy's record in this program is remarkable not simply because of the number of awards they have earned, but because of the consistency required to achieve them. Quality is something that has to be delivered every day, and Umpqua continues to demonstrate what that looks like."

Why It Matters

For dairy operators, Umpqua's sustained recognition demonstrates the competitive advantage of embedding quality systems across production categories. The five-year consecutive win streak signals both sustained investment in testing and process control—metrics relevant to producers seeking benchmarking data for their own quality programs.

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Written by FBM Publications Editors