Cultivating Consumer Relationships

OUTdrive Episode 115 with Stacy Dohle

A visit to the Gerken Dairy Center is a tradition for many who attend the Missouri State Fair. Ice cream, milking demos, and, of course, the butter cow sculpture, are just a few of the great things you can find inside the dairy barn. But, it also serves a greater purpose: connecting Missourians with the dairy farming community. The producer-to-consumer relationship is incredibly important in agriculture, and especially in the dairy industry. Midwest Dairy works to cultivate farmer connections, ensuring that the dairy story is shared in restaurants, grocery stores, ballparks, and homes across the nation.

Midwest Dairy Association is a 10-state regional checkoff organization, representing over 4,800 dairy farms to 39 million consumers across the region. In her role, Stacy Dohle is responsible for leading communication efforts to build consumer trust in dairy farmers and their production practices. Stacy also manages the Gerken Dairy Center at the Missouri State Fair and oversees the creation of the butter cow sculpture. Raised on a diversified crop and beef cattle farm south of Kansas City near Archie, Missouri, Stacy earned a degree in agricultural communications from Missouri State University. After college, she started her career at KTTS radio in Springfield, Missouri as Farm News Director reporting farm news and markets daily. Stacy and her family currently live on and operate a small farm near Pleasant Hope, Missouri.

Tune into this episode to hear about the effective ways Midwest Dairy is working to share farmer stories through media, Missouri program partnerships, and at state fairs across the Midwest.

SHOW NOTES

• 2:40 – Stacy shares her farm background, her career journey to Midwest Dairy, and some general dairy farm industry insight
• 5:40 – Stacy outlines the dairy checkoff program and the primary mission of Midwest Dairy
• 7:45 – Details on Midwest Dairy’s partnership with the St. Louis Cardinals and involvement in the Race to the Plate initiative
• 9:20 – Stacy’s role as a farmer relations manager
• 10:30 – Stacy and Cliff discuss effective ways to share farm stories
• 12:45 – Stacy outlines the presence of Midwest Dairy at State Fairs across the country
• 13:30 – Reasons to visit the Gerken Dairy Center at the Missouri State Fair, from milking demos to ice cream to the annual butter cow sculpture
• 15:15 – Stacy and Cliff discuss the process behind creating the butter cow
• 16:30 – Stacy offers a few reasons someone should visit the state fair
• 20:15 – Stacy explains Midwest Dairy’s role at Grants Farm in St. Louis and Wonderscope in Kansas City.
• 23:40 – Stacy gives insight into the dairy industry as a whole and how to support dairy farmers outside of the fair
• 25:00 – How to find more information or get in touch with Midwest Dairy
• 25:45 – Stacy describes what rural America means to her
• 27:45 – Cliff and Stacy discuss the importance of women in agriculture and positive role models in the dairy industry
• 30:00 – Stacy’s closing remarks on Midwest Dairy and the Missouri State Fair