Bonus: Utah dairy farmers focused on water conservation

Second generation dairy farmers, Mitch and Holly Hancock, will be hosting the 2024 U.S. Farmers and Ranchers in Action's Honor the Harvest. In this bonus episode, they share what they are focused on for the future of their farm and agriculture in Utah. 

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Transcript

Joanna Guza:
While we have our guests on the line, we wanna get their insight on the future of agriculture and what they're keeping a close eye on. We are talking with Mitch and Holly Hancock, they're dairy farmers and owners of Noo Sun Dairy in Utah, and the USFRA Honor the Harvest host. You can learn more about that event in the description. With this bonus episode, I'd like you to answer this question, and Holly, I'll have you go first. What topics are you keeping an eye on that will have a positive and or negative impact on agriculture?

Holly Hancock:
Well, as a mom, my thoughts go to what is the future of our farm for our kids. We don't know. They're still young. We don't know if any of them want to stay here and continue, but we wanna make sure that it's available for 'em. So as I look at what impacts might have on our future of agriculture, I always go to water around here in Utah, we are a desert and the hot topic right now is water conservation. So I know that we are staying involved and watching for legislation and things that come out that might impact our ability to water our crops here on our farm.

 Joanna Guza:
And Mitch,

Mitch Hancock:
I would agree with Holly. We are very involved. I have a role on the board that is over the water delivery system, and I feel that we're trying to be very active and proactive in ensuring we have water to water our crops and grow feed for our farm in the future of generations. On top of that, that water conservation also comes with the soil conservation and soil health. We spend a lot of time managing nutrients that we apply and how to move those nutrients more efficiently and more effectively to the plant when the plant needs them. Things that go into agriculture conservation as well as water conservation are always on our mind.

Joanna Guza:
We've been talking with Mitch and Holly Hancock. They're the owners of Noo Sun Dairy in Utah. They're gonna be hosting  the USFRA's Honor the Harvest Forum, which is September 10th through the 12th. We'll make sure we drop information in the description for you, and we also appreciate you listening and tuning in. Again, I'm Joanna Guza for Farm Food Facts.