As the labor market in the dairy industry continues to tighten, employers are forced to become more creative in attracting employees. One option that many farmers have contemplated is offering housing. For the right farm, and the right manager, housing can be an excellent choice to put your farm above the rest. We’ve listed three pros and cons to help you decide if it’s the right decision for your farm.

Successfully transferring a farm business from one generation to the next can be challenging and rewarding. Succession planning requires not only the transfer of property and assets but also management and leadership, according to attorney Troy Schneider.

During the 2016 Vita Plus Dairy Summit, two dairies shared their strategies for managing through the tough times of milk price lows.

The contentious conversations around dairies and water these days are long passed keeping cows out of the creek; they have evolved into a complex conundrum of concerns over water scarcity and ground water impacts, according to David Crass, partner and industry group chair for agribusiness, food and beverage with Michael Best and Friedrich LLP.

Research reveals that families tend to postpone difficult communication, particularly topics that involve multiple generations of a family, like caregiving. This delay of tough discussion often leads to poor decision-making, especially during times of crisis.

The 2016 Women in Dairy Conference, held Nov. 2 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, closed out with a panel discussion on the topic of farm diversification. The panel featured three female dairy farmers who opened up about how they have diversified their family operations.

Are your employees content just being responsible for doing their assigned tasks? Have they moved on to feeling accountable for the outcomes their efforts generate? Many producers would likely respond “No” to these questions, even while thinking, “How nice that would be.”

Skim milk powder (SMP) and nonfat dry milk (NDM) are often confused and sometimes combined like they were the same thing. They are similar – but in some ways, they are very different. As the dairy industry transitions from a national business to a global business, the U.S. dairy industry must transition to international standards to compete.

Doing business in America is often a family affair. Indeed, Forbes estimates that 90 percent of U.S. businesses are owned or controlled by a family – a truly startling statistic. But this statistic covers a wide array of set-ups. The struggles of the Cargill clan, one of the richest families in the world, are quite different from those of small-town suppliers and most family farms.

More and more frequently, Tom was saying he’d had enough. He wasn’t one to complain but, at 67 years old, he was getting tired. Though he loved the farm and everybody around him knew it, the worry lines on his face were a bit more pronounced each day.