26th Annual NODPA Field Days Hope for the Future: Strategies for Success, Berks County Agricultural Center, 1238 County Welfare Road, Leesport, PA 19533
By Nora Owens, NODPA Field Days Coordinator
When NODPA Field Days were last held in Pennsylvania, in Reedsville in 2023, we had a great crowd of farm families attend, so this year, when we return to Berks County, just northeast of Lancaster County, we look forward to an excellent meeting and a great turnout. No one wants to repeat the climate and feed challenges that many farmers faced in 2025 so we’ve designed a program that focuses on strategies to make the most of what you have, whether it’s better pasture management, cow health management, and renewable energy strategies to lower energy expenses, or rethinking profit, reinvestment and retirement.
The workshops are designed to offer hope for the future. Keeping in mind that dairying is changing and evolving, with many technical, on-farm, and processing improvements, we believe that this year’s NODPA Field Days will have interesting and important information for all organic dairy farmers, and hope you will begin your plans to attend.
This year, all of our workshops, keynote presentation and farm tours focus on these key strategies for success on all organic dairy farms regardless of production methods:
• Animal health and transition success: Micronutrients and late-gestation feeding remain the most cost-effective insurance against early-lactation disorders and lost milk—key in tight-margin years.
• Climate resilience and comfort: Silvopasture can materially improve heat abatement, pasture persistence, and animal performance while diversifying income over time.
• Cost control with intent: Energy prices are volatile; conservation plus targeted renewables can stabilize operating costs and improve risk management.
• Precision grazing, real returns: Managing for intake and timing—not just acreage—links forage to tank and margin, strengthening whole-system efficiency.
• Generational continuity: Profit, reinvestment, and retirement planning aren’t competing priorities—they’re the scaffolding that keeps farms viable for the next handoff.
Throughout this issue of the NODPA News, we are fortunate to have numerous articles from this year’s NODPA Field Days speakers so you can get a preview of their presentations.
The NODPA Field Days opens Thursday morning with a farm tour at Country Sunrise Creamery, hosted by the Nelson Martin family near Meyerstown (read about their farm, the Featured Farm, in this issue). It’s a chance to see how a values-driven, vertically integrated family-run dairy balances quality, stewardship, and community connections. Attendees are asked to travel directly to the farm for the tour.
After registration and lunch at the Berks County Agriculture Center, the Martins return for a wrap-up Q&A, answering questions about their operation and the management choices they make. The afternoon’s first workshop, Big Things from Little Packages: The Important Role of Minerals and Vitamins in Cow and Calf Health focuses on minerals and vitamins as important keys to good cow and calf health. Dr. Robert Van Saun, DVM, Professor of Veterinary Medicine at Penn State University, makes the connections between micro-nutrition, immune function, and disease prevention across the whole lifecycle. There will be discussion of transition feeding, with special emphasis on late-gestation diets that reduce mastitis, uterine infections, and the costly setbacks that can ripple through a lactation. “Dr. Van Saun’s articles have been so helpful in understanding the importance of minerals and vitamins especially in our pregnant cows, so I’m so happy he’s speaking at Field Days this year,” said NODPA Co-President, Kirk Arnold.
After a short break, attention shifts from the rumen to the pasture with Silvopasture: The Challenges and Benefits of Adding Trees to Pasture. Joshua Greene, Director of Education at Trees for Graziers, will discuss how to design, protect, and manage trees within actively grazed systems—where species selection, spacing, and animal behavior all matter. Producers will hear how to establishment, manage competition and capture real-world benefits in shade and forage resiliency.
Late afternoon features updates on the Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship (DGA) program and timely news from USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service—practical pathways for building skilled labor and staying current on market standards. A trade show and social hour follow, offering a relaxed forum to meet vendors, catch up with old friends, and share news and ideas before the evening program.
The Thursday banquet leads into a keynote that speaks directly to the long game: Stop Farming like You’ll Never Leave—Rethinking Profit, Reinvestment, and Retirement. Business advisor Ted LeBow, CEO of Good Roots (formerly Kitchen Table Consultants), along with a farmer panel, lays out a clear framework for balancing today’s cash needs with tomorrow’s continuity. The session tackles profitability with purpose: setting aside reinvestment capital, building retirement without starving the business, and structuring transitions that respect both the current farm family and the next generation.
Friday begins with a continental breakfast and a Producer-Only Meeting. With no outside observers in the room, farmers speak candidly about all the pertinent issues impacting organic dairy today and into the near future.
The morning’s first workshop turns to the farm’s energy balance sheet. In Renewable Energy on the Farm, veteran organic grain and dairy farmer Klaas Marten shares strategies to curb rising energy costs with scalable, practical solutions. From conservation-first audits to right-sized renewables, storage, and equipment choices, the focus is on what can help farmers capture savings without overextending capital.
Next up, a dual presentation from Penn State’s dairy science team—Dr. Leoni Martins, PhD, and Dr. James Lawhead, DVM—connects the craft of grazing to the calculus of milk in From Pasture to Profit: How Grazing Management Drives Intake, Milk Yield, and Efficiency. The session will examine how grazing decisions shape forage quality and cow behavior, which in turn set the ceiling for dry matter intake and nutrient flow. Attendees will learn more about rotation length, residual height, plate meter use, and the timing that helps align peak pasture with peak cow demand—translating into more milk per acre and better whole-farm efficiency.
Before lunch, Forrest and Greg Stricker introduce Spring Creek Farms Introduction in Wernersville, the site of Friday’s afternoon tour. Their preview covers herd, pasture, and cropping systems, plus the planning questions they hope visitors will bring to the farm that afternoon. Lunch includes a door prize drawing, and the meeting adjourns as participants depart for Spring Creek Farms to see how the Strickers integrate the day’s themes in practice.
Posted: to Field Days on Sat, Jul 4, 2026
Updated: Sat, Jul 4, 2026