Faith, Family, Farming

Whenever someone from outside of the dairy industry asks me if it’s “safe” that I talk about faith with my customers, my answer’s always the same. “These guys spend a ton of time and money putting seeds in ground in the spring, trusting that Mother Nature will turn them into feed by fall… they can’t farm without a ton of faith!” And for me, that’s one of the reasons I couldn’t imagine working in any other industry.

Last week, Catholics from around the world met in Philadelphia for the World Meeting of Families. This week, dairy professionals from all over the world will come together in Madison for World Dairy Expo. I’m one of the fortunate few who’s attending both events.

One of the highlights of last week’s conference was attending the breakout session called How Precious Is the Family: Advice from Pope Francis on How to Love. It featured a panel of four people who have all met or know Pope Francis personally. The speakers included an international Catholic journalist, a Rabbi from Argentina, an author/theology professor, and a dairy farmer. Yes, you read that correctly, a farmer.

The dairy producer and dynamic author/professor on last week’s panel are a Catholic husband and wife team, raising their five children near Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. To a room full of hundreds of attendees, they shared a sincere and moving message about their five gifts from God and the important role each family member plays in creating a loving and joyful home.

I’ve had the privilege of meeting and working with a lot of great people in the dairy industry over the past fifteen years, and Expo week always reminds me of that every October. Last week, listening to this dairy couple that I’ve known for nearly ten years, I was impressed and inspired by their authentic example of what it means to be a steward of our many gifts.

Not only would you have appreciated what your fellow dairy producers had to say in downtown Philly about their faith and family values, but you also would’ve been proud of the Catholic audience’s reaction in the middle of the dairyman’s introduction. When the crowd heard the dairy has been in the farmer’s family for 130 years, they interrupted his intro with unanimous applause!

Life is good… we are blessed.

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