As Dairy Industry Changes, Our Tasks Change

By Tom Crosby
Several recent retirements of long-time NFO field representatives now means the majority of our field staff members have been with the organization for 7 years or less. This statistic got me thinking about how changes in the industry have altered the role of our dairy field representatives.

Their role has always been based on working with our dairy farmers to produce a high-quality product, maintain good farm conditions in order to comply with state and federal standards, and ensure that milk moves efficiently from farms to our processors. Today, however, our staff’s responsibility has expanded substantially.

One of the biggest changes over the past several years is the dairy industry’s demand for animal welfare evaluations. Nearly all milk buyers today require some form of animal welfare certification. One hundred percent of our dairy producers are Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM) certified. Vermont field representative Shelby Biasini is our FARM trainer for the organization. Shelby trains and works with our entire field staff to perform evaluations and assist farmers with understanding proper handling, housing and management of their dairy cattle.

Environmental stewardship is a recent responsibility our staff has assumed. A few of our larger buyers are requiring a portion of our milk supply to have an environmental stewardship evaluation. This evaluation will look at manure use, nutrient management and other environmental practices. Our staff will be trained to discuss these issues and make this a streamlined process to minimize the time spent by our dairy producers.

Milk quality itself continues to be more complex, and our staff works with producers with various levels of technology. While we still have some farms that hand milk cows, we have others with totally automated robotic milking systems.

Each system brings its own set of challenges to learn and understand to maintain high milk quality. As milk buyers continue to increase their quality expectations, this continues to be a very important area of our commitment to our producers.

As I spend more time with our staff, I appreciate the interesting and challenging times those field reps are entering. More importantly, I realize how confident I am that we are up to that challenge.