The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) was one of the founding members of the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance (USFRA) five years ago to amplify the voice that dairy producers have in speaking about food production.

“Ultimately, a lot of what USFRA is doing is built around communicating messages to people who influence the food marketing environment,” says NMPF Senior Vice President of Communications Chris Galen.

Galen serves on the board of USFRA and is chair of the Communications Committee, which is comprised of other communications specialists from various member organizations and helps implement USFRA programs. “One is to train a select and highly effective group of ‘spokesfarmers,’ what we call the Faces of Farming and Ranching,” he says. The ‘Faces’ program includes young farmers and ranchers from all over the nation who represent different aspects of agriculture. “We use those people to go out and speak to the media and the public in a variety of high profile opportunities.”

Galen says they have already had two groups of ‘Faces’ and are in the process of selecting the next class, with the application deadline coming up on July 10. He urges young dairy farmers who want to represent agriculture to apply and become a part of the effort to communicate with the public on important issues such as animal care, antibiotic use, and sustainability. “If we don’t hang together we’re going to hang separately on a lot of these issues and challenges,” he says.

Learn more in this interview with Chris. Interview with Chris Galen, NMPF