Ryan Dennis

Here’s a quick quiz: What are the top three countries for milk production by volume?

If you took a second to account for population and recalled a Milk House column from eight years ago about this country’s efforts to revitalize its dairy industry, you might have been able to put India at No. 1.

It’s often joked that the best attribute of a good farmer is a short memory. And, of course, there’s truth to such a statement, as the challenges inherent to the act of farming can be frequent and plenty – something gets out, something else breaks, something unexpectedly needs to be paid for.

Last week (at the time of this writing), I gave an interview for an Irish farming website. They titled it “Can We Save the Family Farm?” Naturally, they meant in an Irish context.

The last year-and-a-half, I’ve gotten into the habit of starting emails in the same way, which is usually something like: “How’s life treating you, considering the end of the world? Hope you and yours are safe.”

My partner and I spent the first few months of the pandemic at my family’s farm in upstate New York. As far as places to wait out the apocalypse, it served us well.

Like the other 60 million viewers who watched the Netflix series Narcos, I was both elated and a little conflicted when the program reached the re-enactment of Pablo Escobar’s death.