New York Farm Viability Institute Website Press Releases 

July 20, 2007
Contact: Rebecca Schuelke, public relations specialist
(315) 453-3823 extension 103
(315) 427-2714
rschuelke@nyfvi.org

NY Begins Dairy Profit Teams Initiative With 10 Farms In Jefferson, Madison Pilot Project

By Kara Lynn Dunn, NYFVI Correspondent

Ten farmers in two New York counties will follow the successful example of dairy operators in Pennsylvania and Minnesota. Farmers in Jefferson and Madison counties will form Dairy Profit Teams with the goals of improving productivity and profitability.

Lisa Holden, described as “the heart and soul” of Pennsylvania’s Dairy Profit Teams, was the featured speaker at kick-off meetings in Morrisville and Watertown on July 11-12, respectively. She reported that farms using profit teams in her state saw, on average, a 7.2 percent increase in cows, a 16.7 percent increase in production per cow and a 25 percent increase in total production. Days to first service, calf mortality, cow deaths and incidences of mastitis were reduced; forage quality and ration formulation improved.

Holden, an associate professor of dairy animal science at Pennsylvania State University, said the teams in Pennsylvania positively impacted such areas as income over feed costs and milk quality with an average increase of $249 in profit per cow.

“The impact has been so powerful on our farms that our Secretary of Agriculture Dennis Wolff has taken an interest in expanding the program,” Holden said.

Also inspired by success stories in Pennsylvania, the New York Farm Viability Institute, earlier this year, committed $115,000 in grant funding for a two-year pilot project to establish dairy profit teams in New York. The farmer-led non-profit group funds on-farm research to help farmers increase profits.

What is now the Jefferson and Madison Counties Dairy Profit Teams Project in New York was first proposed by 15 dairy farmers and seven agribusiness representatives participating in a Jefferson County Dairy Focus Group. They presented the idea to the Jefferson County Agricultural Development Corporation, which requested funding from the New York Farm Viability Institute. The Institute requested that a second county be added to the pilot project. Madison County is about an hour-and-a-half drive from Jefferson County.

Jefferson County Agricultural Coordinator Jay Matteson said, “We see this as an opportunity to help our dairy farms improve profitability.”

Five farms in each county will be selected for the project, which is intended to serve as a model for farms throughout New York. The Small Business Development Center at Jefferson Community College will provide project administration in Jefferson County. Cornell Cooperative Extension will assist with project delivery in Madison County.

Selected farmers will receive cost-sharing to help pay industry professionals to serve on their advisory teams. An allotment of $600 per meeting will be supplied to each farm for a total of 11 meetings.

Success of Neighbors’ Teams Drives Interest in New Teams

Pennsylvania has 96 teams in place with funding to start 50 more by the end of 2007. Some of the teams are 10 years old, starting when Pennsylvania’s Dairy Profit Teams project got underway, following the model of diagnostic teams used in Minnesota.

Holden said seeing the success their neighboring farmers find with teams drives new team development.

“The two most critical factors for team success are having a common goal and all team members being committed to that goal,” Holden said. She noted that selecting the right team members and timing are also important.

She said most teams begin with meetings limited to one hour per month for about six months and adjust the scheduling according to their needs. Meetings are managed by facilitators, who are not directly involved in the business but have often have a vested interest in the success of the farm, such as a nutritionist or veterinarian.

Holden advised that team members should be chosen carefully. In addition to the farm owners, team members often include current farm advisors, including bankers and crop consultants. Key employees and other dairy producers may be members. A facilitator may be a non-agricultural business representative.

“Four to seven people make an easily managed team. Too many people can be difficult to manage; too few people can sometimes make it hard to get enough ideas,” Holden said.

She noted that it is important to share the information that results from team meetings with key people who are not part of the team, particularly employees.

Teams go through four phases of development: forming and establishing themselves, dealing with resistance and internal process issues, finding their stride and being accountable for team responsibilities, and seeing accomplishments.

The team dynamic changes as team members come and go as needed. Some advisors can be added to the team temporarily.

Holden shared a video of one Pennsylvania producer who initially thought he did not want another monthly team meeting “to put up with,” but did participate in the project and now says his Dairy Profit Team has progressed to the point of serving like a board of directors for the farm. That team used subcommittees for facility design and financial planning for a farm expansion project.

The farmer in the video said that team suggestions have helped improve forage.

Local Representatives See Pilot Project Building a Future for Farms

Eric Constance of the Small Business Development Center at Jefferson Community College will serve as project administrator, making sure the Dairy Profit Teams meet desired goals.

The pilot teams are expected to be running by late fall.

“If we are successful with this pilot project, there will be lots of counties in New York State looking to us to see how we did this,” Constance said.

Farmers interested in participating in the pilot without receiving reimbursement through the Farm Viability Institute must underwrite the costs of maintaining a Dairy Profit Team for two years.

Jefferson County dairyman and New York Farm Viability Institute board member Ron Robbins said, “This is an exciting time for Jefferson and Madison counties to be part of this pilot project. Through the leadership of the state agriculture secretaries in the Northeast, the Northeast Dairy Leadership Team formed and began planning for the future of the dairy industry with a focus on farm-gate to consumer issues.

``What we needed was for someone to deal with the cow to farm-gate issues. Pennsylvania has achieved quantifiable results with its Center for Dairy Excellence. Our elected officials in New York State have made a significant investment in the dairy industry to start a Center for Dairy Excellence here.”

Robbins said the Dairy Profit Teams are among the first of many initiatives to be planned through the New York Center for Dairy Excellence.

Mark Kenville, the recently-hired director of the New York Center for Dairy Excellence, said, “I am excited about the Center’s role in improving the profitability of the dairy sector and welcome the challenges and the opportunities ahead.”

New York State Assemblyman Darrel Aubertine noted that groundwork in the past three years has been building initiatives for the dairy industry in New York and other states.

“Policymakers are finally recognizing how important agriculture is and how important dairying is to agriculture. Now is the time to act. Through projects such as the Dairy Profit Teams initiative, the New York Farm Viability Institute is helping. There are a lot of good things happening and a lot we can do,” Aubertine said.

For more information on Dairy Profit Team project in Jefferson County, contact Jay Matteson at (315) 782-1806 or Eric Constance at (315) 782-9262. For information on the project in Madison County, contact Karen Baase at (315) 684-3001 extension 105.

The New York Farm Viability Institute is a farmer-led independent nonprofit organization that directs on-farm research to help farmers increase profits and to foster a vibrant and renewable agriculture system that includes New York’s diverse farm sizes, sectors, commodities, production practices and geographic regions. The Institute is funded through a legislative appropriation to the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets. Visit www.nyfarmviability.org.