Gen Z has made their way into the dairy workforce, both on the farm and out in the field. Perhaps it’s that sharp young manager on your dairy, or the new team member that just hopped out of the truck with you nutritionist, you could very well be interacting right now with a young person who will go on to be a game-changer in the dairy industry.
That’s why I started inviting young dairy producers and professionals in the first five years of the careers onto the Uplevel Dairy Podcast and created the Young Leaders series, to connect like-minded young movers and shakers who are dedicated to making a difference and determined to do it in the dairy industry.
These are some of the best and brightest, and here’s what you should know about the young talent that will someday take over all of our jobs (mine include!):
1. Meaningful work matters. A lot.
Some of the very first young leaders I sat down with made this so very clear: They are not interested in doing jobs that are just “jobs.” They are motivated by meaning and purpose, being part of something bigger than themselves, and contributing their thoughts and ideas.
Michael Neves, with Progressive Dairy Solutions, and Taylor Zeltwanger, with NutraDrip, were both examples of this. Only in their early 20s, both young men expressed their passion for their work as part of a bigger picture of environmental sustainability and responsibility.
2. Their life experiences are different, and that’s a good thing.
These young leaders view the world through their very own lens, which may not have included growing up right on the farm, being in 4-H or milking cows. However, their experiences uniquely position them to serve in new ways.
Bonney Shehadey grew up 30 minutes from her family’s dairy, Bar 20 Dairy in California. She shared how being a high school athlete with asthma impacted her concerns today over air quality in the San Juaquin Valley, and also empowered her interest in how to minimize the dairy industry’s contributions to this multi-faceted problem. She started working on the dairy when she turned 16, and went on to learn milking, feeding and other skills. These experiences together fuel her future in a career in dairy sustainability.
3. They learn and network differently.
This generation was forced to learn how to learn and connect with others online. And that, too, can be advantageous. It removes the barriers of travel, time and distance. For example, that’s how Ytsje Andringa from Sunrise Dairy in South Dakota is achieving her goal of learning Spanish this year.
To listen to the entire conversation, click here:
