Along with her husband, Duane, Marilyn Hershey owns and operates Ar Joy Farms, LLC, home to 850 Holstein cows and 650 acres located an hour west of Philadelphia. In 2017, the farm installed a methane digester, taking manure from their cows and converting it to electricity. They are also able to incorporate food waste from the local community, increasing the amount of gas produced from the methane digester. The digester produces enough gas to run their farm as well as contribute to their community.
In addition to helping run the family farm, Marilyn Hershey serves as the chair of Dairy Management Inc. (DMI), and a director on the United Dairy Industry Association (UDIA) board.
“There’s always something that farmers have to look for or add or remove to continue,” Hershey said, explaining her farm’s digester on AgriTalk last week while attending World Dairy Expo.
With her DMI board role, Hershey has traveled the globe strengthening dairy export market relationships.
“The thing that I always come away with during these trips is the value and the importance of the relationship,” she says. “And, just how important it is to look someone in the eye to have that face-to-face interaction.”
Earlier this year, Hershey, along with other dairy producers traveled to Singapore, which is home to the U.S. Center for Dairy Excellence founded by the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC). Hershey and other farmer leaders got a close-up look at the center, which enhances collaboration between the U.S. dairy industry and Southeast Asia’s food and beverage stakeholders, the culinary sector, health professionals and other partners. Southeast Asia is the second largest destination for U.S. dairy exports on a volume and value basis.
“It is the busiest port in the world, and really the gateway to the rest of Southeast Asia,” Hershey said. “We were able to see this center in action, talk to the different processors, like the cheesemakers and the innovators, and how they can use U.S. dairy products.”
Hershey shared that it’s vital to maintain those that help solidify the value of U.S. dairy products. Twenty years ago, exports represented 4% of U.S. dairy and today it hovers around 17-20%.
“We have had some headwinds this year. China is a market that even if we’re not shipping to China, it does affect us, because they’re a big buyer, and they’re going to buy from somebody. And if they’re not buying from Europe and Fonterra, then that does bleed into our other markets,” Hershey said. “It’s very important that we have the free trade agreements.”
Hope on the Horizon?
“Dairy farmers have to be nimble,” Hershey says. “We have to look at relationships outside of the norm. The Middle East and North Africa are areas to focus on.”
Another stop Hershey made was to Morocco and she says we must find opportunities that provide stepping stones to help move our U.S. dairy products to.
“I think there’s a there’s a ton of opportunity there. Morocco really is the Horn of Africa and we have free trade agreements,” she says.
Strong Relationships
Hershey and other leaders of DMI and USDEC also recently traveled to Mexico and Costa Rica to strengthen relationships and partnerships in Latin America.
“That relationship is so important for us. It is our largest market. They import a lot of dairy. We have 80% of the share of what they import. So, we’re important to them as much as they are important to us,” she says, stating that they work with the Mexican farmer delegation and talk about different ways that we can improve that relationship. “Whether it is sharing nutritional information. They would love to have as an established Checkoff Program as we do.”
While attending World Dairy Expo, Hershey shares with other U.S. dairy farmers that building relationships is huge, but that we must continue to look for unique ways to increase demand outside our borders to ensure we’re getting a good price for our products.
“It used to be that we looked at exports like we were selling off the bottom. Exports have changed and they need high-quality products. Knowing that the U.S. can guarantee high-quality whether it’s ingredients, artisan cheese, powder, blocks or whatever is leaving the borders, it has to be a high-quality product. And I think that’s an important message that we’re selling high-quality products.”
To listen to the entire conversation between Marilyn Hershey and AgriTalk’s host, Chip Flory, click here - AgriTalk-10-4-23-Marilyn Hershey - AgriTalk - Omny.fm
