Aimed at providing young farmers with enhanced leadership skills to make them more effective managers and influential leaders, the National Young Cooperators (YC) Program has provided training and leadership development opportunities to beginning dairy farmers for more than 70 years.

YC’s who participate at the national level travel to Washington DC in conjunction with NMPF’s June Board of Directors meetings to learn about current policy issues, attend a lobbying how-to event, and meet with their congressional representatives on Capitol Hill. In the fall, the national YC Leadership and Development Program is held in conjunction with NMPF’s Joint Annual Meeting.

Cardiac Nurse Returns Home to Carry on the Family Farm Legacy 

Sarah Douglass of Zido Valley/Catalpadale/Bristol Dairy in northeast Ohio has been involved with the Dairy Farmers of America (DFA)’s YC program for 11 years. She also serves on the DFA Mideast YC advisory committee, helping plan the yearly area YC meetings. Douglass has attended NMPF YC and joint annual meetings for several years and represented DFA on the NMPF 2023 YC advisory council. She underscores the importance of networking at events and conferences.

“There is so much that you can learn from your peers,” she says. “It is a great experience to get to travel to different parts of the country and meet new people from all over the country. Everyone has different knowledge and has different ways of making their businesses prosper and it is great to share that. I would not have ever gotten those experiences without the YC program.

“I have made lifelong friends through this program,” she adds.

Douglass and her family milk 6,500 cows and farm 4,000 acres of corn and alfalfa. Before returning to her family farm, the third-generation dairy farmer received two bachelor’s degrees, one in Fashion Merchandising from Ohio State University and another in Nursing from Ashland University. Douglass was a cardiac nurse for eight years.

“I came back to the farm full time when my first son was born,” she shares. “It was always my plan to return to the dairy and carry on our legacy.”

Once in a Lifetime Experience 

“My favorite part of starting college was finding other people who liked to talk about cows and dairy as much as I did,” she says. “I tried a few internships while in college, but they made me realize that going back to the farm was what I wanted to do. Once I graduated, I went home and began working full-time on the farm.”

Packard owns and operates her family’s farm, Horning Farms, with her grandparents, parents, brother and husband where they milk 400 cows in Southeast Michigan. The family raises their own young stock and grows their own feed, farming around 1,700 acres of corn, alfalfa, soybeans and wheat.

Packard’s involvement in the YC program began with her cooperative, Michigan Milk Producers Association (MMPA).

“I started by attending MMPA’s annual YC conference, where I enjoyed the learning sessions and networking with other young farmers,” she says.

In 2022, Packard was selected as the Outstanding Young Dairy Cooperator through MMPA and attended NMPF YC programs.

Packard encourages other young farmers to get more involved with their cooperatives. She has not only enjoyed meeting other dairy farmers across the country but also enjoyed the opportunity to visit the office of elected officials.

“I was asked if I was interested in attending my co-op’s YC event and I said yes,” she says. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and the only way to take full advantage of the program and networking opportunities is to actively be engaged in them. Branch out, sit with people you don’t know, and stay out late if people are going places after programming ends for the day. These experiences are where the real relationships are fostered and built. The YC webinars are also a great way opportunity to learn helpful and relevant information without having the commitment of leaving the farm.”

Lawyer Turned Farmer

Isabel Mullin’s journey back to her family farm didn’t happen until she was in her thirties. During the pandemic, she felt herself gravitating more and more toward her passion back in dairy and moved to a friend’s farm and shortly after began conversations with her uncle about coming to work on the family dairy farm.

“I grew up about an hour away from Rustlewood and really hadn’t spent much time at the dairy farm since I was 12,” she says. “After about six months working there on Saturdays and vacation days, I finally left the career I’d committed over 10 years to with the Maine law and politics and started farming full time in May 2022. I haven’t looked back since.”

Mullin’s grandparents, Chester and Elsa Johnson, started Rustlewood Farm in 1947. The small family farm is now operated by their son, Richard, with help from his youngest son and Isabel. Today the family milk between 70 and 80 registered Holsteins whose genetics trace back to the original cows Mullin’s grandfather brought to Maine.

When she returned to the farm, her uncle encouraged her and his son to attend Agri-Mark’s Young Cooperators summer conference.

“My uncle had participated in the program as a young adult and felt it had great value,” she shares. “I have learned so much from both programs through the educational programming and the incredible young farmer leaders I’ve gotten to know and deeply admire. The knowledge I’ve gained through the YC programs supplements and informs me on farm and self-directed learning to help me feel much more competent and confident in my farming and business decisions.”

Mullins shares that for small producers it can often be disheartening to ponder the future of the industry. She shares that the insights, ideas and hearts of others—producers and staff alike—bring to these meeting is uplifting and inspiring.

“I am so grateful for each of the connections I’ve had the opportunity to make through the YC program,” she says.

Mullins also shares that the 2023 NMPF YC Advisory Council consisted of 13 farmers from across the country, of which included 9 women.

“I hope that through this program and other leadership development opportunities, the future dairy boards across the country embrace diversity in their leaders because I firmly believe what the data shows, that diversity in thoughts, life experiences, and people leads to more robust dialogue, more ideas, and better results for companies and industries,” she says.