By Katie Spring
Dairy is a foundational industry across the Northeast, producing food and generating billions of dollars for the regional economy. At the same time, dairy faces challenges – one of which is workforce development. In 2025, to bolster pathways into the dairy workforce, NE-DBIC offered the Catalyzing Regional Dairy Workforce Grant to fund projects focused on developing and expanding dairy workforce programming, including federal and state registered apprenticeships.
Through this grant, Wolfe’s Neck Center was awarded $100,000 to run the Growing Graziers Cohort – a 9-month, hybrid educational opportunity for aspiring dairy farmers interested in managed grazing in the Northeast – and to redesign the Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship program for the Northeast.
Wolfe’s Neck Center is particularly well positioned for this work. Not only do they facilitate regional farmer networks and workforce development programs, but they also operate a commercial organic dairy using managed grazing systems. This blend of networking support with on-the-ground experience means Wolfe’s Neck doesn’t just support farmers – they are farmers. Along with managing the New England Grazing Network, they’ve been partnering with the Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship (DGA) since 2015.
DGA is a two-year program that includes 3,700 hours of paid on-farm training with a certified Mentor Dairy Grazier, related technical instruction through the Managed Grazing Innovation Center (MGIC), and additional facilitated education. Graduates of the DGA become Journey Dairy Graziers and are prepared for career advancement in farm management, ownership, transition, or other value chain roles. While DGA has previously run independently in Maine, Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, each state operated independently.
Now, with funding from the Catalyzing Regional Dairy Workforce Grant, Wolfe’s Neck Center is managing the Northeast portion of the DGA program, covering not just Maine but all of New England and eastern New York – and transforming it to a regional model with program management under one umbrella. Wolfe’s Neck is also collaborating with DGA coordinators in Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, and New Jersey.
Kate Turcotte, the Senior Manager of Farmer Education at Wolfe’s Neck Center, says building out a regional network leads to better placements for apprentices. “It’s helpful to have a bigger perspective when talking to applicants,” she said. This regional approach also leads to stronger relationships across state lines, and provides better collaboration, coordination, and effective use of resources.
In order to reach farmers throughout the region, two parallel cohorts were established: a Northern Cohort led by Wolfe’s Neck Center with support from the University of Vermont, and a Southern Cohort led by the Pennsylvania Association of Sustainable Agriculture in collaboration with Cornell University. One key aspect of the Growing Graziers Cohort are state and regional meet-ups on DGA Mentor farms. These meet-ups bring aspiring dairy farmers together to receive technical training on established farms. In June, the NE-DBIC team attended one such meet-up at the Corse Family Farm in Whitingham, VT.
Source : vermont.gov