Empowering Dairy Farmers with the Checkoff Story
Client:
Industries:
- Agriculture
- Rural Lifestyle
Services:
- Strategy and Planning
- Audience Engagement
Dairy Management Inc. (DMI) sought to empower dairy farmers by helping them effectively communicate the impact of the 15-cent checkoff program. At the 2024 Joint Annual Meeting's UDIA Session, the goal was to showcase collaboration across national, state, and regional levels to build trust and encourage sales, enhancing farmers' ability to share meaningful checkoff stories with their peers.
Approach
To address this need, Paulsen designed an interactive, live session where more than 200 dairy farmers and industry leaders practiced their story telling skills. Using small group discussions and an online tool called MentiMeter, participants crafted concise, impactful stories that could be shared with other farmers via text or social media. Each story followed a powerful format: outlining the "why," "how," and "what" of each challenge, solution, and positive outcome, creating a framework for memorable storytelling.
These 200-character narratives highlighted the value of checkoff initiatives, encouraging farmers to become vocal advocates for the industry.
Results
This hands-on storytelling exercise resulted in a booklet titled "Make Your Voices Heard," which compiled the stories crafted by participants. By aligning personal experiences with the broader impact of the checkoff program, dairy farmers left equipped with clear, relatable stories to share, strengthening industry trust and fostering a unified message among peers and communities.