People

Over 30 years ago, a group of farm women in Nebraska recognized a need to speak up for agriculture and formed Women Involved in Farm Economics (WIFE). Today, it is a national organization with local chapters and state associations in 15 states across the country.

“Most of our members are ladies who get the dirt under their fingernails,” says Tammy Basel, national WIFE president from Union Center, South Dakota.

Robyn Buttars of Lewiston, Utah, has been writing and composing music for more than 13 years. When she reached a special birthday milestone in her life, she decided it was time to take her writing to the next level.

“About when I turned 40, I thought, ‘I want to write a book,’” she says. “So I just decided it was time to do it.”

The dairy industry in south Florida has seen its share of changes in the last 70 years, and producer Red Larson has witnessed all of them from his start as a hand milker to the large dairy operations he manages today.

Progressive Dairyman asked dairy producers and allied industry at Managers Academy Jan. 20-22 in Orlando, Florida, the following question: “What strategies will your business employ or recommend to keep dairies strong through 2009?”

The last time Josie and Jocelyn Riser traveled to World Dairy Expo, Jocelyn was only four years old. The mother-daughter duo had the opportunity to return to Madison, Wisconsin, for the event when they decided to take Jocelyn’s Senior 3-Year-Old to compete.