Well-known ag influencer Tara Vander Dussen (aka the New Mexico Milkmaid) tells how she went from being a reluctant dairy farmer to a vital voice for the industry. She’s a busy mom, wife, environmental consultant, podcast host and public speaker, but she’s probably best known for her social media presence.
When fifth-generation dairy producer Tara Vander Dussen went away to college, she planned to leave farm life behind. Flash forward to today and she finds herself one of the agriculture industry’s most popular ambassadors. Having built quite a reputation — and a big social media following — as the New Mexico Milkmaid, she is an in-demand public speaker as well as co-host of the Discover Ag podcast.
“I think it’s one of those things where you don’t appreciate what you have until you’re removed from it,” she tells Davis Michaelsen on the latest Grow Getters podcast, which focuses on how ag producers are diversifying their operations by starting new businesses. Not that college was a huge step away from her roots — she earned a degree in Soil, Water and Environmental Science. But at the time she didn’t see herself marrying a fifth-generation dairy farmer and raising two daughters on a dairy farm.
Working as an environmental science consultant on farms throughout New Mexico, however, was hardly a side hustle. It was her primary job. She’s also a certified NRCS technical service provider, advising producers on nutrient and irrigation management.
As if her life weren’t diversified enough, in 2016 she started writing a blog, “The New Mexico Milkmaid” and started attracting attention. “I wanted to share about cattle’s role in the environment,” she explains. “The conversation can’t just be carbon in and carbon out. Cattle’s role in our ecosystem is so much more complicated and nuanced than that.” As she phrases it on her website, the blog is her way of “sorting through all the cow manure to share the facts about farming.”
The blog led to social media, which led to public speaking, which led to the Discover Ag podcast, which she co-hosts with fellow influencer (and previous Grow Getters guest) Natalie Kovarik. Tara says that their shared mission is “to bring agriculture in a new, fun and unconventional way to people outside agriculture.”
For ag producers looking to diversify their operation, she offers, “Clarity comes through action.” Before she and Natalie launched their podcast, they educated themselves, even taking courses on podcasting, and then took the leap. “Sometimes you have to just do your idea and see what happens,” she says. “There are going to be things that change and evolve so keep that perspective.”
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