Age: 24 Location: Fargo, North Dakota Current job title: Agriculture extension agent for Cass County Employer: North Dakota State University Education: I studied animal science and agricultural business at North Dakota State University. I was active in my college’s dairy club as ... president during my senior year.

Age: 30 Location: Baileyville, Kansas Current job title: Owner/operator of Buessing Holsteins Education: I have a degree in animal science from Kansas State. I stay in touch with people I met at Kansas State, including ... Mike Brouk from the dairy department. He organizes an advisory group. We meet quarterly. There are two other guys I went to college with that dairy and several other producers. I definitely stay in touch.

Hometown: Paris, Tennessee My dairy background: I grew up on a 600-cow Holstein dairy owned and operated by my parents, Michael and Betsey Sumners. I am the second generation along with two of my sisters, Megan and Katherine.

Hometown: Sunnyside, Washington My dairy background: I grew up around dairy cattle and the dairy industry through family associations. This contact with the industry inspired me, and I served as the 2010-2011 Yakima Valley Dairy Ambassador and as a Washington State Alternate Dairy Ambassador in 2012. I am currently part of the Cooperative University Dairy Students (CUDS), where I co-manage a herd of 35 milking cows and an equal number of replacement heifers.

Hometown: Windthorst, Texas My dairy background: I grew up on a small dairy farm that my parents built in north Texas. My brother, a fourth-generation dairyman, took over in 2007 and continues to milk there today. I help out on the dairy from time to time on my visits back home but am not as involved with the operation as I was in high school.

Hometown: Waddington, New York My dairy background: I grew up working on my family’s dairy farm in Madrid, New York. The 40-cow farm was bought by my great-grandfather in 1946 and has been in the family ever since. The business is now operated by the third and fourth generations, including my mother. There is also a dairy farm on my father’s side that was started by my great-grandfather. My uncles currently deliver bottled milk just as my great-grandfather had done.

Editor’s note: As part of Progressive Dairyman’s 25th anniversary celebration, we’ve checked back in with the producers and businesses we’ve profiled over the years. We profiled Rehder Farms of Cottonwood, Idaho, in March 1990. There are two rows of letters stuck to the door leading from the tank room to the parlor at Rehder Dairy. They read, “Happy Place.” Cows haven’t been milked here in almost a decade, but the Rehder family still loves the dairy business and takes pride in an industry that directed their lives for more than 30 years.

Logan Worden, 19, of Oelwein was crowned the 59th Iowa Dairy Princess at the Iowa State Fairgrounds on the eve of the fair’s opening on Aug. 8. Worden, daughter of Dennis and Joan Worden, will use the title to make connections with consumers over the coming year, helping them to understand the dedication of dairy farm families as they take care of their cows and farms. Worden represented the state’s Brown Swiss breeders in the contest, in which she also was named winner of the presentation category.

Dave Forgey isn’t afraid to go against the grain and make his opinions known. He was the first dairy producer in the U.S. to obtain Fresian genetics from New Zealand and he’s become a resource for those looking for grazing advice. He’s also become a prominent voice in the discussion about dairy policy reform, particularly given his involvement in the Dairy Policy Action Coalition (DPAC).