On The Farm: Chat with Emily Zweber of Zweber Family Farm
Stay Connected DairyCast looks at dairy production practices and economic factors to help you with economic success. Stay Connected and and join the conversation!
Chat with Emily Zweber (@ezweber) of Zweber Family Farm.
Nick Weber (Nickel's Notes and @n_web) hosts On The Farm on Twitter (#onthefarm), conversations with people on the farm doing real agriculture work.
Questions and responses
- Take a few tweets to give us background on yourself and the Zweber Family Farm.
- Tell us a bit more about the farm. What's dairy farming like in Elko, Minn.?
- So, switching to organic was a marketing and economic decision?
- How has organic improved the herd and land health?
- Can you give me an idea of the paperwork involved wit organic farming? I've heard it's exhaustive.
- Are there any main differences between an organic and 'conventional' dairy?
- Your insights on the way organic dairy farming has provided useful options & helped some to save operations.
- Can you elaborate on the issues with neighbors because of urban sprawl. Is that a concern?
- What breeds do you raise (dairy, beef, etc.)? Why? Do you sell meat, butter, milk seasonally or year round?
- Has the economy slowed organic milk purchases in your area? Is that a myth? What's your take on future of organics?
- How has social media helped your farm? Why do you do it? How do you manage your time with it?
- Can organic and conventional coexist? What's the key to toning down some of the rhetoric?
- What's the state of ag in Minnesota? Good future? Challenges? Minnesota is a very ag-friendly state, no?
- Is Zweber German? Do you think your ancestors were in line together at Ellis [Island] & the guy stuck a Z on Weber to separate us?
