Small Farms Making Big Cheese, Planting Seeds of Knowledge Through Book and Tours

From the perspective of life after a dairy barn was destroyed by fire, to stories highlighting how farmers and industry supporters are advocating for the dairy industry, today's episode hears conversations across the dairy community. Stories include on-farm tours, sourcing milk from eight farms to build a national cheese brand and an author reflecting on his faming background and the importance of telling agriculture's story. First, we hear from the Blase family in South Dakota about what it was like to lose their facility in a fire earlier in May. For now, the family continues sorting through difficult decisions while focusing on cleanup, cow care and maintaining the creamery business. Though much was lost in the fire, they remain grateful no lives were lost and hopeful about what the future may still hold. In Wisconsin, we spent a day with the Fischer family, whose farm recently welcomed more than 300 elementary students. Kids in third grade and 4K moved from station to station learning about cows, calves, goats, sheep, pigs and more. Hosting the Food for America event on behalf of the Plymouth FFA Chapter is a longtime tradition for the Fischer family. We then hear the story of starting Milton Creamery LLC in May 2006 from Rufus Musser III. While researching how to make their creamery idea work, two Amish men knocked on his door. By pairing together, Musser had a direct line to quality farms and people, where he could create a premium milk market in Van Buren County on the Missouri Border. Next, we learn how, 14 years ago, the Jams family agreed to have the fifth-grade class from Willmar Public Schools come to their farm for a tour. Today, that partnership still stands, and many others have followed suit to tour CoJo Dairy. For each school tour, CoJo Dairy sets up three stations around the farm, then breaks the group into three sections to visit each stop on a rotaion. Today's final conversation is with Brian Reisinger, author of Land Rich, Cash Poor: My Family's Hope and the Untold History of the Disappearing American Farmer. The book details 100 years of family farm history, condensed down into the most key elements that have impacted farms nationally, woven in with the Reisinger family's real-life story. New episodes are released every Monday after the newspaper is published, sharing the many conversations from the dairy community! Send story ideas and your comments to [email protected]. Subscribe to the podcast for reminders of episodes - next episode will be released June 15 - about the dairy community and leave a review! We look forward to bringing you this brand new way to consume Dairy Star. This is Dairy Delivery. All dairy, all the time.