Together, Everyone Accomplishes More

By Brad Rach
Through good times and bad times in the dairy industry, we have found ways to keep our head above water and take advantage of growth opportunities that came our way.

Looking back over my years as your National Dairy Director, not all things went as smoothly as I would have liked. But we came together and developed a plan and strategy to deal with all issues. Today, as much as anytime I have been working for you, I feel that we are all pulling together toward the same goal with a team approach.

Sure, we’ve been through a lot of changes. But one thing has not changed: National Farmers is just as much about family farming today as it ever was. Too often, we let farm size be the only measure we use in defining family farms. In today’s dairy economy, that’s a mistake that hurts every one of our members regardless of how many cows they milk.

We all know how important it is to stand together when we market our milk. None of our farms is big enough to effectively go it alone in today’s consolidated markets. Better premiums, not to mention basic issues of market access, demand that we market our member milk as a block.

Every family dairy farm, 50 cows or 500 cows, faces the same danger of being squeezed out of milk markets. More than ever, we need volume to stay in the game. Volume helps keep trucking costs down and allows us to better negotiate with very large processors. No family farm acting alone has that kind of volume. It must come from cooperation among farmers.

Let’s always remember, as we continue to add new members to our wonderful organization, that every family dairy farm we represent, regardless of size, builds market access that benefits everyone.

Earlier in this column I referred to the organization’s team approach. Moving forward, we’re expanding the term TEAM, or Together, Everyone Accomplishes More.

Any good team, be it sports or in business, depends on great players working together if it is to be successful. We certainly have that. In fact, the organization always has.

But here’s the point I want to leave you with. Great teams have great players, but they don’t have the same great players forever. Great players come and go, but a truly great team endures.