Employee management, work-life balance and advocacy with Krista Stauffer

In this episode of the Progressive Dairy podcast, host Kimmi Devaney visits with Washington dairy farmer Krista Stauffer about her journey in sharing her story online, the challenges of starting a dairy farm in 2009, how advocacy impacts mental health, what she’s learned about managing employees, how Washington’s agriculture overtime law has affected their farm and more.

Here is the breakdown of this episode:

• About her farm (~0:33)
• What it was like starting a dairy in 2009 (~1:00)
• What inspired her husband to start dairy farming and why they chose their current location (~2:20)
• Progression of the first decade of dairy farming (~4:20)
• How the COVID-19 pandemic affected the Stauffers in the Pacific Northwest (~6:15)
• Kids’ roles on the farm (~7:35)
• How and why Krista started sharing her story online (~8:50)
• Consumer feedback to her social media pages (~11:20)
• How she’s dealt with trolls and others with negative intentions against dairy farming (~13:10)
• Resources and mentors (~14:05)
• Mental health related to advocacy (~16:05)
• Krista’s advice for others sharing their farm stories online (~21:10)
• Krista shares about running a local boutique
• What she’s learned about balance
• The most important things she’s learned about managing people to build a good work environment
• How Washington’s agriculture overtime law has affected their farm
• What should dairy producers living in states without state agriculture overtime laws know about how this law may affect them?
• Rapid fire questions