Dairy Farmers of America Leadership Programs Inspire Young Dairy Farmers

Growing up on dairy farms, youths receive ample hands-on job training. But there’s so much more to running a successful farm business.

Dairy Farmers of America is offering young farmers leadership and legislative advocacy training to help their businesses and communities thrive.

The organization offers two leadership training opportunities for young dairy farmers — Young Cooperators and Emerging Leaders.

The Young Cooperators program aims to teach leadership and business strategies through various events. Emerging Leaders is a two-year course that teaches policy advocacy in addition to business and cooperative skills.

Marjie Knust, a DFA spokeswoman, said the group’s mission is “to deliver value to our farmer-owners as a leading global dairy cooperative,” which includes offering resources to foster the next generation of dairy farmers.

DFA is a 10,000-member-owned cooperative organized by districts. Members in each district are managed by an elected farmer council that helps them work on local management and marketing issues.

At last year’s Nashville, Tenn., Feed the Funnel event for the National Young Cooperators meeting, participants packed meals for local food banks.

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“It’s important for us to focus on the development of young farmers because everyone needs succession planning …” Knust said. “We have several ways to engage young farmers to learn more about the cooperative, delivering value to farmers and (learning about their) role in government.”

Young Cooperators Program

DFA’s Young Cooperators program was established in 1950 and is managed by the National Milk Producers Federation. The program also has a 15-member advisory council made up of beginning farmers from across the country.

Over the past year, nearly 600 young people have participated, attending either a regional or national event, Knust said.

The program seeks to reach farmers under 45 years old, according to DFA’s website. It aims to make dairy farmers more effective managers and more influential leaders, to strengthen the resilience of beginning dairy farms by implementing sound business management practices, and to support cooperative staff who serve as a point of contact for beginning dairy farmers.

“Our intent is to build that base knowledge of how the (DFA) cooperative works and how we bring value to farmers,” Knust said.

She continued, “At the national (Young Cooperators) meeting that happens once a year, that brings together YCs from across the country to expand their knowledge base on the business of the cooperatives, how the cooperative operates with different services and how to access them, as well as how to participate in legislative advocacy, making Capitol Hill visits to their legislators about the impacts of ag policy or dairy policy on their farm in ways that can influence legislators.”

Upcoming Young Cooperator events include a Dairy Policy and Legislative Forum June 3-5 in Arlington, Virginia, Young Cooperators Day at the World Dairy Expo on Oct. 3 in Wisconsin, and a Leadership and Development Program Oct. 19-21 in Phoenix.

Virtually, the program will offer webinars focusing on women dairy farmers, employee retention and recruitment, business and financial IQ for beginning farmers, and finding work-life balance.

Emerging Leaders Program

The Emerging Leaders program is a more intensive, formalized training process that occurs over two years and requires an application and selection process. About 20 members are selected to participate annually.

About 60 people have gone through the program since its inception, Knust said.

The program focuses on personal and professional skill development, introduces the business of the cooperative, and teaches how to advocate for legislative policy that benefits dairy farmers. There are eight educational sessions, offered in person and virtually, each lasting several days and taking place in various locations across the country.

“I think for young farmers (and parents of young children), we recognize that it’s hard to take the time away from the farm to attend meetings, so we try to have different levels of engagement,” Knust said.

Asked what DFA is looking for in applicants of the Emerging Leaders program, Knust said it’s “people who want to learn more and are curious.”

Youth-Focused Social Media

DFA continues to foster relationships with young consumers and young farmers via social media — using Instagram to reach consumers and Facebook to reach young farmers. On both platforms, their handle is @DFAMilk.