The Innovative Dairy Farmer of the Year Award
Recognizing Progressive Dairy Producers
Co-sponsored by IDFA and Dairy Today magazine
McCarty Family Farms of Rexford, Kan., was named the 2013 Innovative Dairy Farmer of the Year during an awards ceremony at at IDFA's Dairy Forum in Orlando, Fla. McCarty Family Farms earned two nominations, one from Kansas Secretary of Agriculture Dale Rodman and another from Michael Neuwirth, senior director of public relations for The Dannon Company, Inc.
Ken and Mike McCarty, two of four brothers who own the family farms with their parents, accepted the award along with Joe Gillespie, McCarty Family Farms chief operations officer, and David Lainchbury, vice president of sourcing and supplier development for Dannon.
The award honors active U.S. dairy farms that are improving on-farm efficiency through progressive management practices, production technologies and/or marketing approaches. Winners are selected based on current methods as well as their positioning to meet future economic and business challenges.
McCarty Family Farms is featured in the January issue of Dairy Today magazine. The award presentation can be viewed at IDFA's YouTube channel.
A call for nominations for the 2014 Innovative Dairy Farmer award will be released this summer.
Read more about McCarty Family Farms here.
Previous Winners
Previous winners were:
- Sweetwater Valley Farm, Philadelphia, Tenn.
- Brubaker Farms, Mount Joy, Pa.
- Haubenschild Dairy Farm, Princeton, Minn.
- High Plains Dairy of Friona, Texas
- KBC Farms, Purdy, Mo.
- Joseph Gallo Farms, Atwater, Calif.
- KF Dairy, El Centro, Calif.
- North Florida Holsteins, Bell, Fla.
- C Bar M Dairy, Jerome, Idaho
- Pagel's Ponderosa Dairy, Kewaunee, Wis.
- Si-Ellen Farms, Jerome, Idaho
- Baldwin Dairy/Emerald Dairy, Emerald, Wis.
- Clauss Dairy Farms, Hilmar, Calif.
- Mason Dixon Farms, Gettysburg, Pa.
