Young Cooperator Program great learning experience for Johnsons
By Jean Caspers-Simmet
simmet@agrinews.com
Date Modified: 02/23/2012 9:19 AM
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PARKERSBURG, Iowa — Having the opportunity to represent Swiss Valley Farms as National Young Cooperators was a great learning experience for Parkersburg dairy farmers Roy and Shiloh Johnson.
They have participated in Swiss Valley Farms' Young Cooperator Program since before they were married.
They were selected as Swiss Valley's Outstanding Young Cooperators in 2010. They attended the Young Cooperator Leadership and Development Program held in conjunction with the National Milk Producers Federation annual meeting in Reno, Nev., in October 2010 and the Young Cooperator Fly-in held with NMPF's June 2011 Board of Directors meeting in Washington D.C.
The couple was able to stay a few extra days with their daughters Melanie, 11, and Megan, 10, and Roy's mother and sister.
Each year in March, Swiss Valley sponsors a Spring Break for young cooperators who range in age from 18 to 45, Roy said. Nationally, the program targets 18 to 40-year-olds.
Spring Break includes speakers who discuss dairy topics, panel discussions, tours of Swiss Valley facilities and farm visits. Young cooperators organize evening entertainment that has included takeoffs on the Newlywed Game, Minute to Minute, and more.
"The evening entertainment is something lighthearted that we can put together ourselves," Roy said.
Each year an Outstanding Young Cooperator is selected. Participants fill out an application, write an essay and take part in an interview.
The program encourages community participation. Roy said he's usually been the one who stays home to do the chores so that his parents, Duane and Carolyn, who farm with Roy and Shiloh, could volunteer with the Butler County Dairy Promoters and be 4-H leaders.
The family has sponsored tours for preschool groups. The Johnsons work with children who live in town but are interested in showing cattle. They sell the youth calves, house them at the farm and teach them to care for and show the animals at the county fair.
"The kids do all the work," Roy said.
Roy said he and Shiloh put off applying for the national program while their children were young and Roy was busy with a farm expansion.
"I was getting to that 40-year-mark, and so we thought we better give it a try," said Roy, who is now 41.
While in Washington they met with congressional staffers to talk about ideas for the farm bill. During their tenure as National Young Cooperators, NMPF developed and tweaked Foundation for the Future, its dairy reform proposal.
"A year ago, I was not too much in favor of Foundation for the Future," Roy said. "With the changes they've made, it's a better program."
The couple served on the advisory committee that planned and helped with the 2011 National Young Cooperator's Conference which was in October in San Diego.
"It's been a good learning experience," Shiloh said.
"I'm a people person, and I liked visiting with the other farmers," Roy said. "We met people from Maryland, Wisconsin, Washington state and Oregon. I enjoyed hearing how they do things where they live."