Hoard's Dairyman:
Dairy’s future depends on its people
October 12, 2026
By Theresa Sweeney-Murphy, Senior Director, Communications & Membership Outreach
Dairy’s future depends on young farmers: the ones who will keep family farms viable, lead our cooperatives, and speak for our industry, from local zoning meetings to the halls of Congress.
Those leaders aren’t made overnight. Right now, they’re milking cows, managing employees, and raising families, and leaving the farm for even a few days can be a tremendous challenge. But stepping back from the day-to-day to learn and grow is what turns good farmers into strong leaders. And whether our industry has the leaders it needs tomorrow depends on their commitment to that growth, and on the investment we make in them today.
That idea drives National Milk Producers Federation’s (NMPF’s) National Young Cooperators (YC) Program, which helps dairy farmers grow into leaders on their farms, in their co-ops, and in their communities.
Leadership starts with knowing the business and where it’s headed. At World Dairy Expo earlier this month, the YC Program hosted a panel of experts in economics, genetics, nutrition, and production on how producers can respond more nimbly to market signals as co-ops and processors put a growing premium on butterfat, protein, and other solids. Later, we examined how rising international demand is shaping the future of U.S. dairy.
Knowing the business also means knowing the cooperative. A co-op is only as strong as the members who govern it, and today’s young farmers are tomorrow’s board members. At the YC Leadership and Development Program later this month, participants will take on the questions co-op boards wrestle with every day: How do you balance reinvesting in the co-op against returns to members now? How should a board measure management’s performance? They’ll work through those questions alongside more experienced co-op executives and farmer leaders.
Leadership also means taking care of yourself and your family. Markets, weather, and family dynamics all bear down on dairy farmers, and the next generation needs tools to handle that pressure. That’s why our upcoming event will include a candid conversation about mental health.
And no one leads alone. Some of the YC Program’s most lasting value comes from the conversations between sessions. The peers young farmers meet through YC become the people they call for advice, compare notes with, and lean on for years.
Volatile markets, labor shortages, trade uncertainty, and farm transitions will keep testing our industry. Young leaders who understand those issues, know how to advocate for solutions, and have a strong network behind them will carry dairy through them. Investing in them is investing in dairy’s future.
This column originally appeared in Hoard’s Dairyman Intel on Oct. 12, 2026.
