NMPF Website Anticipates Coronavirus Surge, Shares Essential Resources
March 31, 2020
Launched as a simple statement on March 6, NMPF’s special coronavirus webpage has quickly become a go-to compilation of essential dairy-farmer and dairy-industry resources, including everything from an aggressive expansion of Spanish-language materials to the launch of a new podcast series specifically devoted to dairy-related coronavirus issues.
The site, www.nmpf.org/coronavirus, was shepherded by NMPF Communications Manager Theresa Sweeney, who worked closely with web vendor Dupont Creative to turn the initial basic webpage into a fully functional site within 24 hours of the initial decision to do so. The coronavirus page was NMPF’s most-visited webpage for the final three weeks of March, drawing twice as many views as the NMPF home page, www.nmpf.org.
Content on the site was specifically focused toward dairy farmer and employer needs, including contributions from the full range of NMPF staff ranging from government guidance on reducing the virus threat in the workplace to a template work permit to be given to employees reminding relevant officials that agriculture is considered critical infrastructure by the Department of Homeland Security. Sweeney, who grew up on a California dairy farm, oversaw which documents were translated into Spanish, with an eye toward materials that would benefit employees, while the FARM team shared its own expertise on workforce management and effective stewardship in a time of crisis.
At the same time, the new NMPF podcast series highlighted on the site – a repurposing of its existing “Dairy Defined” thought-leader series to the coronavirus era – featured NMPF experts discussing facets of government and industry responding, ranging from Senior Vice President and staff counsel Clay Detlefsen discussing supply-chain issues and Vice President for Sustainability and Scientific Affairs Dr. Jamie Jonker on dairy-farm best practices to FARM Vice President Emily Yeiser Stepp explaining adjustments in the FARM Program and Vice President for Government Affair Paul Bleiberg on federal stimulus.
The initial focus of the series was on public-health and supply-chain issues, with Jonker the first guest. Additional podcasts touching on economic and other issues were planned for April, with outside guests also integrated into the program.
With more activities occurring online and via teleconferencing and other web-based technologies, NMPF plans to continue its proactive communications approach, adapting communications tools to meet dairy needs throughout the current challenge.
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