Soon after being named editor of Progressive Dairyman more than five years ago, my first assignment was to travel with a bus tour through the Midwest en route to World Dairy Expo. I remember sitting on the bed in my hotel room the night before the tour started, feeling anxious as to whether I would be able to write something about the tour that would be new and noteworthy. I wanted our coverage to stand out. But what made me nervous was that this assignment wasn’t the most obviously newsworthy event. It wasn’t the first-ever bus tour dairymen had organized nor was it the first-ever dairy exhibition that I was headed to. This was World Dairy Expo; hundreds of stories have been written about it already.

Cooley walt polo
Editor and Podcast Host / Progressive Dairy

I went to bed and woke up no more comforted as I ate the hotel’s continental breakfast the next morning.

Call it starter’s luck, but the man from Colombia I sat next to on the bus ride that day had an incredible story. This was his first time in the U.S. and to visit World Dairy Expo – a dream he’d had his entire life.

I followed him around the whole day. Then wrote his heartfelt story.

After the article was published, an expo employee complimented it and said of all the story angles that had been written about the show, that one hadn’t been done before.

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I felt so relieved to have written something that stood out. And it set a high standard. Ever since then, almost like an addiction, I’m looking to surprise you with what you can expect from a dairy magazine.

Recently a producer approached our team after one of the virtual tours we recently hosted at World Ag Expo. He said: “That was the most unique farm tour I’ve ever seen.”

Whew, mission accomplished, again. Now back to worrying about what you won’t expect us to do next. PD

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Walt Cooley
Editor
walt@progressivedairy.com