National Dairy FARM Program

Tim Hammerich

News Reporter

It has been a year of adjustment for all of us, including trade groups that represent our California farmers and ranchers. The National Dairy Farmers Assuring Responsible Management - or FARM program usually relies on face to face contact with farmers, experts, cooperatives, and processors. But vice president Emily Yeiser Stepp says they were able to adjust.

Yeiser Stepp… “We were able to set up monthly engagement opportunities for our cooperative and processor staff, particularly building out our suite of resources and materials for them and our farmers.”

The FARM program helps establish standards for the dairy industry in the areas of animal care, antibiotic stewardship, and workforce development. They’ve had to find new ways to carry out their mission this year.

Yeiser Stepp… “Working through actually an idea that came from our farmer advisory council, which is a council of 20 farmers from across the country of saying, 'Hey, you know, there's a lot of information out there about the farm program, but we really needed an in quick snippets'. And so we developed our "Quick Convo" series that we're continuing through 2021 to really highlight program areas of the FARM program itself, but also timely hot topics. You know, it's not maybe always the most comfortable when you're forced into change, but it did open a lot of doors for us, I think in 2020 and things that will continue on into the future of the program implementation.”

The National Dairy FARM Program is administered by the National Milk Producers Federation.