Celebrate June Dairy Month with these tried-and-true recipes, straight from the kitchens of real farmwomen and Progressive Dairyman staff members who use real dairy products as a staple ingredient. They arekid-tested and potluck-approved.

I’m not going to sugarcoat it: How agriculture presents itself to the public needs to change. Personally, most people in ag follow more conservative values, and I’m one of them. But professionally, publicly, in the way we market our lives and our product, it’s time to let them go.

Springtime on the farm is always a wonderful season, as the earth comes alive again, and the old winter is finally behind us. It’s exciting getting out in the fields and working the land and putting the tiny seeds into the ground, anticipating a bountiful harvest later in the season.

John Haeckel of Madison is CEO of Clean Fuel Partners, which specializes in turning organic waste into fuel. His digester plant in Dane, Wisconsin, is located between three farms and processes the manure from the farms, turning it into fuel.

We all have a narrative to tell and share. How we tell that narrative depends on many factors. Opportunities to share our narrative can be quite obvious or strategically disguised. How can you promote the dairy community by sharing your narrative?

As wives, mothers, “farmHers” and other off-farm professionals, we tend to get caught up in the day-to-day activities that go along with each of those roles. We can barely keep up with laundry and vacuuming. There’s the never-ending bookwork, low commodity prices, battling the weather, restless children, and the list could go on.

If I had a dime for every time I heard, “He’s [or she’s] not a real farmer,” I would probably make more than I do currently milking cows. Actually, I don’t milk cows. I hate milking cows. In my opinion, I think it’s the most monotonous job on a dairy farm.

These are arguably the most difficult times in (dairy) farming history, with high costs and low market prices. The conversations and climate among dairy farmers and agriculturalists often reflect this. It can be disheartening, unsatisfying and, frankly, depressing. 

When you look online at articles, blogs and comments, it can feel like the whole world is against animal agriculture. Just this year, we have seen the EAT-Lancet Commission report and the Green New Deal.

Farm security is not always top of mind for producers, but unfortunately, it’s necessary to protect the safety of your animals, people on your property and your livelihood. Animal rights activists will go to great lengths to portray animal agriculture negatively, ranging from getting hired to record misleading videos to trespassing to holding large-scale protests at farms.