In this episode, host Kimmi Devaney talks with Derrick Josi, who is an Oregon dairy farmer and author that has built an online presence of 800,000 followers on Facebook and recently moved cows into new facilities on the farm. Kimmi and Derrick discuss what he did differently with the new facilities, how and why he started advocating online, why he wrote a book and much more. Read more about his book here: agproud.com/blogs/2-progressive-dairy-guest-blogs/post/54786-dairy-farmer-addresses-industry-misconceptions-in-new-book. 

Here’s a breakdown of the episode:

• Derrick’s inspiration for building new facilities [~0:40]
• What they did differently in the new facilities vs. the old ones [~1:45]
• Cow comfort and ventilation in the new barns [~4:45]
• The most challenging part of the construction process [~5:35]
• How he’s grouping cows differently in the new facilities [~8:00]
• How doubling the herd size has changed their management [~8:55]
• What he would do differently if starting over today [~12:25]
• Future plans for a visitor center on the farm [~13:25]
• Tours [~15:15]
• Why Derrick started sharing his dairy story online [~16:40]
• His motivation for online advocacy [~18:45]
• Derrick’s strategy for dealing with negative people, trolls, activists on social media [~19:30]
• Content that resonates with his online audience [~21:35]
• How much time he spends engaging with followers in an average week [~24:15]
• Advice for other dairy farmers and industry representatives trying to start sharing their stories online [~27:00]
• Avoiding online advocacy burnout [~28:15]
• His inspiration for writing a book in 2021 [~30:10]
• Target audience for his book and what he hopes they gain from reading it [~31:15]
• Goals when writing An Industry Worth Fighting For [~31:40]
• Misconceptions addressed in the book [~32:10]
• Reader feedback [~33:05]
• Plans for future books [~33:35]
• Derrick’s key takeaways as a first-time author [~34:50]
• Rapid-fire questions [~36:05]

To contact Derrick, email him at [email protected]