Positive young producers in SLC

I'm back from Salt Lake City and the DFA Mountain Area Young Cooperator's annual meeting. This group of young producers who are between the ages of 25-45 were impressive. The conference attendees had so much enthusiasm. They were open to new ideas and shared many of their questions and opinions.

Thursday night I had dinner with a young producer from central Utah. During our conversation, this dairyman said he had a business degree but probably wouldn't get to use it because he was a dairy farmer. The other guests at our table couldn't have disagreed more. Eventually we convinced him that one day he'll be able to use his business training to help improve his dairy. The producers I met with were bright and positive about their future in the dairy industry. It was an honor to be amongst them.

Although the group had some bold and creative ideas, they were also pious. They respected the legacy of dairying their parents had left them or the lessons they were still learning from them. Any industry analyst or commentator who has met this group would feel comfortable predicting that for the next 40 years U.S. dairy cows will be well cared for and more efficient.

-dairyeditor

Don't let them take that away

In June 2006, I wrote an editorial in Progressive Dairyman touting what I thought could never be taken away from the dairy industry – its iconic image of black and white Holsteins and wholesome dairy products. The title of the editorial was "No, they can't take that away." However, unless the dairy industry, and most importantly dairy families, don't stand up to defend dairy products and more importantly their livelihoods as caretakers for the cows that produce the milk to make those products, I might just be proved wrong. Has dairy's Doomsday arrived? No. But to think that it never will is ignorant. There are plenty of other sites on this World Wide Web that would try to convince others milk is not safe to drink, that dairy producers don't care about their cows and that dairy production harms the environment. These arguments are false.

One of this blog's purposes is to dispel such rumors. All of us have something we can do to help. If you're interested in joining in, leave a post saying, "We’re proud to dairy."

This week I'm talking to a group of young dairy producers and their spouses about how to make others just as proud of dairy as we are. I'm sure, like you, they'll have lots to share.

-dairyeditor