Anna Donnay was 10 years old when she first made yogurt. “I can’t believe I even ate the stuff I made then,” she said, laughing.

Still, she was hooked. “I love yogurt,” she said. “I love the health benefits and the taste of it and the versatility of it.” 

Her dream is to sell her own yogurt from cows milked on the dairy farm where she grew up helping out. Her dad John and mom Chris milk about 40 cows year-round on about 320 acres. The farm, about five miles northwest of Kimball, Minnesota has been in the family since 1965. Her father bought the operation in 1986 from her grandfather. In 2005, the farm was certified organic. Donnay represents the third generation of dairy graziers in her family.

Donnay is interested in creating her own Icelandic skyr, a mild, low-sugar and low-fat food that is technically a fresh sour milk cheese.

With her father John as a mentor, Donnay is completing a Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship, the country’s first formal agricultural apprenticeship program. With a $4.7 million Partnership for Climate-Smart Commodities grant from the USDA, DGA is also teaching farmers how to measure the positive impacts of dairy grazing, so Donnay and other next-generation dairy graziers can adapt to changing market conditions and improve their bottom lines.

The grant, in concert with the apprenticeship, is expected to enhance Donnay’s profitability by enabling better management practices and demonstrating the environmental benefits of sustainable dairy grazing, strengthening her economic runway in the face of market fluctuations.

Dairy grazing sends cows out to grass instead of keeping them in the barn. Dairy graziers carefully manage their pastures, rotating their cows frequently through small paddocks to allow the cows to intensely fertilize the grass for regrowth while the cows move on to greener pastures. As the cows move to fresh paddocks, the previously grazed areas have time to recover and regrow, promoting healthier pasture ecosystems and reducing the need for artificial fertilizers. This practice helps maintain soil health, biodiversity, and overall sustainability on dairy farms.

Donnay’s family also utilizes USDA conservation programs — initiatives designed to assist farmers and landowners in implementing practices that conserve natural resources — to promote pollinator habitat and plant buffer strips that protect their organic farm from runoff.

For her apprenticeship, Donnay will complete two years of on-farm employment of at least 3,700 hours, along with 300 hours of technical instruction. Prior to her apprenticeship she studied dairy science at South Dakota State University in Brookings, South Dakota.

Back on the farm, she realized that she needed her own network of dairy graziers. Her family and her dad’s cousin are some of the only organic dairy farmers nearby. “I felt like I needed to get connected back into our local area,” Donnay said. “My dad knows all these organic farmers, but I don’t.”

Donnay is doing a split apprenticeship. She worked for nine months at Miller Farm in Vernon, Vermont, which milks about 250 cows. “What I learned is that I love our farm and how small it is,” she said with a laugh.

Donnay’s family sells milk to Organic Valley, while Miller Farm bottles its own milk. Her apprenticeship experience in Vermont is helping her develop her plans for the farm’s future. “I learned the value of having your own product and selling it directly to the consumers, and keeping it local,” she said. “It made me even more passionate, getting to experience it and live in it for nine months.”

Local markets are important for dairy farmers because they offer direct sales opportunities to consumers, fostering community connections and ensuring fresher products while supporting local economies.

As a dairy grazier, Donnay’s days start at 5:30 a.m., first milking cows, then doing other chores before coming in for breakfast at 8:30 a.m. During the day, work varies, from bookkeeping to fixing fence, “whatever needs to be done,” she said. Around 4:30 p.m., evening chores begin with picking eggs, watering and feeding the pigs and chickens and starting to milk by 5 p.m. Donnay tries to finish chores by 7 p.m.

The farm has a few pigs, laying hens, broiler chickens, dogs, and barn cats. “One of my favorite things is getting the cows home from the pasture,” Donnay said.

Recently, a family reunion renewed her desire to give back to the community through dairy. “People need to know where their food comes from and have that connection with the animal,” she said. With a year left in her apprenticeship, Donnay is already planning for the yogurt processing plant that she hopes to build in three years.

Someday, she hopes to market directly to consumers. “I want to keep the financials and everything in our community,” she said. “Ideally, the dream is to sell everything off the farm.”

Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities is expanding markets, leveraging greenhouse gas benefits of climate-smart commodity production, and providing direct, meaningful benefits to production agriculture, including for small and underserved producers. USDA is investing more than $3.1 billion for 141 projects through this effort.