A record snowpack that’s far from fully melted, combined with last winter’s record rains, may mean it will be some time before Cory Vanderham, owner of Vanderham West Dairy in Corcoran, CA, will get his 4,500 cows all back to his farm.

In the meantime, he’s relying on leases in other locations, help from friends, and faith, to get through an ongoing disruption to the dairy industry in the nation’s top milk-producing state that creates new challenges every day. 

“You don't realize how strong this community is and how strong ag is until things get wild like this,” said Vanderham, a member of NMPF’s Board of Directors and the California Dairies Inc. cooperative, said in a Dairy Defined podcast released today. “And when it got wild, everybody showed up to help.”

Vanderham also discusses his on-the-ground observations on what kind of policy changes and investments at all levels of government could improve the state’s water management and infrastructure as farmers look toward a more resilient future in the face of weather extremes.