Barge emily
Communications and Marketing Manager / Center for Dairy Excellence

Designing our future in the dairy industry – whether that’s the direction you want your farm to go or how you want to excel as a dairy professional – starts with the decisions we make today. At the 2025 Pennsylvania Dairy Summit on Feb. 5-6, speakers from across the dairy industry will help you reimagine what your future might look like through dynamic keynote and breakout sessions. Thoughts from 16 of those speakers are shared below.

From finding your purpose and how it fits into the future of dairy to farming with a people-first culture in mind and emerging markets for fluid dairy, these speakers provide a sneak preview of some of the farm-level and business management tips they plan to share at the Pennsylvania Dairy Summit. Your wild dreams and lofty goals can be attainable, both on and off the farm. It all starts with your first step.

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Career motivation

  • Carve out space for your vision. “Design starts in the mind. It starts with connecting to a purpose greater than yourself and a vision for how you will carry that out in your chosen path – whether that be on the farm or in the field of dairy support services. For many of us, getting clarity on this purpose and vision for impact is challenging because of the busyness and distraction of everyday life. That’s why I’m looking forward to helping attendees carve out a space to do this at the summit and to share insights from the inspiring stories of real people in our dairy community.”
    —Peggy Coffeen, Uplevel Dairy Podcast, keynote speaker
     
  • Give yourself permission to pivot. “The pathway to chasing dreams and achieving goals is never linear. The conditions will never be perfect. Success requires a plan, patience, perseverance, partnership and permission to pivot.”
    —Alice Crothers, Long Green Farms, keynote speaker
     
  • Be the person who takes that one step. “At Oakridge Dairy, we believe that anything is possible. We are willing to try anything to make even the smallest detail better for our team and our animals. It starts with an idea. Someone has to take a step. Only one step is needed to start the next greatest thing. My encouragement is to be that person. Take that one step today. You never know where it may lead.”
    David Moser, Oakridge Dairy, keynote speaker

Herd health, business management

  • Vaccine failure is usually a failure in management. “What can dairy producers start doing today? Good health requires an integrated approach of biosecurity, outstanding management and using vaccines as an adjunct. Vaccine failure is not usually the failure of the vaccine but the failure in management and basic animal husbandry. Paying attention to nutrition, housing and animal management is key to making vaccines perform to aid in prevention of disease. Poor management can’t be corrected by the use of a needle to cover up mistakes. The best vaccine programs use the fewest vaccines.”
    —Dr. Chris Chase, Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, South Dakota State University, breakout speaker
     
  • The wildest dreams can be obtainable if you are resilient. “I think the first step to successfully designing your tomorrow is to write your ideas down. Even if they seem too big or extravagant, it’s always something that you can reference or build off. If there is one thing that I have learned as a first-generation farmer, it is that even the biggest and wildest dreams are obtainable. The biggest piece of advice I can give is to never give up. Through every journey, big or small, there will be mountains and valleys to cross. Roll with the punches and be adaptable. Even if your path takes a few turns you weren't expecting, or you encounter a roadblock, that doesn't mean you won’t reach your goal in the end. Whether your goal is to increase your herd size, change over from a parlor to robots, or become a better dairy leader, being able to adapt and overcome challenges will be vital.”
    —Casi Long, owner of Kolb’s Farm Store, young dairy professional speaker
     
  • Efficiency takes work. “An efficient farm doesn’t happen overnight. It takes careful planning and investment to make it run well with a minimum of energy use and expense. But when you do put in that effort, the payoff is long-lasting and positive.”
    —Dr. Dan Ciolkosz, associate research professor of agricultural and biological engineering, Penn State University, breakout speaker
     
  • Clearly define your goals with all parties. “If you want to work toward future goals, you must first start by clearly defining your goals so they can be shared broadly (think bankers, family, partners, etc.). Once the goals are agreed upon by all potential parties, make a plan and stick to the plan.”
    —Dr. Tara Felix, Penn State University, breakout speaker

People and potential

  • Overcome paralysis by analysis. “In every business, ‘paralysis by analysis’ stops progress from moving forward. However, most times the ‘analysis’ is just worries about the extent of one’s knowledge. Once that knowledge is acquired, the paralysis quickly falls away and is replaced by relief and astonishment that it took so long. That is the essence of professional education – providing the knowledge that delivers the confidence to better your business today. Our session at the Pennsylvania Dairy Summit is designed to address that knowledge gap so workforce issues can be tackled and addressed sooner rather than later.”
    —Brook Duer, staff attorney at the Center for Agricultural and Shale Law at Penn State University, breakout speaker
     
  • See what each generation is seeing. “For dairy operations involving two or three generations, or those hoping to involve a second generation in the future, it's really important to consider everyone's perspective while ‘designing your tomorrow today.’ For long-term success, multigenerational dairy operations need to include everyone's perspectives if they are building a sustainable vision for their dairy of tomorrow. That can only happen when time is taken to have meaningful conversations about each family member's goals, vision and concerns for the future.”
    —Dr. Brian Reed, breakout speaker
     
  • Invest in qualified foreign labor. “My advice for anyone interested in growing their operation is to invest time and money into bringing qualified foreign labor into the U.S. Since dairy farms operate year-round, the only way to accomplish this is to sponsor qualified workers for green cards. The process will take about three years, so it is a significant investment in the future, but it will pay dividends down the road. The entities that I have helped through this process in the past are now having workers come into the U.S. on a yearly basis. It has changed their workforce and has helped them grow their business.”
    —Ricky A. Palladino, Esq. of Palladino, Isbell & Casazza LLC, breakout speaker
     
  • There’s not one huge step, but a series of smaller steps. “The starting point to making an idea a reality is to act on the idea. An idea will always be nothing more than an idea if no actions are taken to make the idea a reality. The first thing is to write down your idea and add information to flesh it out as best as you can. Develop a plan of action. Make the steps small so you do not try to accomplish more than you have the capacity to complete. Remember that you eat nothing in one gigantic bite, always a series of much smaller bites. Build up a support system of people around you who are knowledgeable and supportive. Lastly, understand that not every step is guaranteed to get you closer to your goal. You may fail at completely accomplishing the step initially or you may run into an obstacle. Learn to work through or move around the obstacle.”
    —Wayne Vanderhoof CSP, CIT of RJR Safety Inc., breakout speaker

Outcomes and opportunities 

  • Efficiency and sustainability often go hand in hand. "I think something that is often underlooked is the idea that efficiency and sustainability go hand in hand. Dairies are constantly seeking ways to improve productivity and reduce waste and costs. Over the past 20 years, dairies have made great strides in this regard. Many of these innovations also translate into improved sustainability. However, the financial benefits of these sustainability improvements are often not fully realized. Previously, there haven’t been significant incentives to reduce your carbon footprint. In today's landscape, the food and beverage industry is in desperate need of more sustainable/low-carbon goods to stay competitive and meet their climate-related goals. Ultimately, farmers will take on the responsibility for delivering these sustainable/low-carbon goods, creating an opportunity to increase the value of your milk through the implementation of sustainable practices. Learning more about how your farm can reduce manure and enteric methane emissions will help you make more informed decisions about practice changes and technologies that can optimize your productivity, efficiency and bottom line."
    —Bryan Stolzenburg, carbon project manager at Ag Methane Advisors LLC, breakout speaker
     
  • Keep your end goal in mind. “If you want to plan for something, you need to know what your end goal is. For a broad example, let’s say you want to implement a dairy herd technology system, but the farm already has a high pregnancy rate (30 percent). Why do you want the system? Would there be more value in selecting a technology system for transition cow health? This might lead to selecting an entirely different system. So always make sure you have the end goal in mind. Who will manage that data and when do they intervene? Always start with the end in mind for anything you do in dairy farming or your career.”
    —Dr. Melissa Cantor, Pennsylvania State University, breakout speaker
     
  • We’re sending a message with everything we do. “Remember that as a human being, intentional or not, you are always sending a message. It’s inherent in everything we do. Think about someone who doesn’t make eye contact during a conversation or a person who responds to an email that it’s obvious they haven’t read. Being thoughtful about how and what you choose to communicate – in person, via digital channels or even what seems like a casual chat – puts you miles ahead of most people and goes a long way in building trust and community.”
    —Beth Meyer, director of consumer confidence at American Dairy Association North East, breakout speaker
     
  • Find your vision. “The most important thing for today is vision. With no vision, there is no goal to strive for. Find that vision, write it down, and begin planning what you must do to reach that vision. Proverbs 29:18 says ‘Where there is no vision, the people perish.’”
    —Brooks Long, Deliteful Dairy, breakout speaker
     
  • Big successes are typically the result of smaller successes – and failures. “Working diligently over time will get you to where you want to be. Nothing happens overnight, and big successes are typically the result of many small successes (or even failures) that you achieve along the way. Don’t be afraid to reach out to peers and professionals for assistance. A strong network is often the key to success. Having a solid sounding board can be priceless as you move towards your goals and can keep you accountable.”
    —Kara Riccioni, director of agricultural business development at the Pennsylvania Small Business Development Centers, breakout speaker 

To learn more about the PA Dairy Summit, view the full program, and sign up for the two-day conference, visit online. Discounts are available for dairy producers, and one-day rates are also available.