SPANISH FORK — When dairy and farm management students return to Brigham Young University next fall, they will find a new emphasis on profits.
The university recently brought in the LDS Church-owned Farm Management Co. to manage the 800-acre Spanish Fork farm and dairy. It is a first step toward a marriage between BYU and Farm Management for student opportunities in agriculture and related areas, said Kent Crookston, dean of the College of Biology and Agriculture. Until now, internships and research with Farm Management operations were hit and miss, he said.
With this new partnership, BYU agricultural educators anticipate improved revenue and learning.
Farm Management Co. operates dozens of farms, ranches and orchards worldwide, including four other dairies, three in Utah and one in Colorado. Many are church-owned, while others are leased. The BYU Dairy is one of the top three producing dairies in the state with 400 dairy cows, said BYU agricultural specialist Roy Silcox. Milk produced at the dairy stays within LDS Church operations, including its welfare system, BYU, temples and other facilities.
The BYU farm also has about 60 head of beef cattle, poultry and an agronomy research area.
This spring key BYU faculty will travel to selected Farm Management operations around the world to assess internship and other educational opportunities, Crookston said. Students will likely not go until at least next year.
Like many universities, BYU has agricultural experiment stations for learning and research. But the association with Farm Management will greatly enhance the research opportunity. It will likely spill over into wildlife, zoology, food science and other related educational areas.
"It will reach beyond agriculture," Crookston said. "For example, the church owns a 300,000-acre ranch in Florida. They have wildlife issues there (with an endangered species)." Under an arrangement with Farm Management, that may become an ecology station for BYU students. The BYU Dairy operated in the past without monitoring costs in comparison to the rest of the dairy industry, Crookston said. As a result some costs were way out of line. But under Farm Management, costs are strictly tracked, even down to daily profitability per cow. Those strict accounting procedures have led to new policies and a reshuffling of employees.
Most full-time dairy employees were offered other jobs, but some declined to take them, Crookston said. About 40 people worked at the dairy, including part-time workers. About half of the part—time employees were students and were not offered jobs with the new management. Many of them found work on campus.
Traditionally, many students worked at the dairy their entire college career. Under new policies they will work there to get experience running a dairy but then move on so other students may also gain the experience, Crookston said.
"It will at least double the training," he said.
In the future the dairy won't be a place of employment for students but a place of learning. Part-time positions will be phased out, he said.
Farm Management intends to hire laborers but will look at the open dairy market to determine wages and benefits. Still, BYU is reviewing remaining employees and trying to be fair, Crookston said. But benefits employees had that don't fit the national market, such as subsidized housing for some, will be eliminated, he said. The dairy will also cut overtime pay. The changes "stunned" workers, he said, but will make the dairy more competitive.
The bottom line — which will become the focus of farm management training — is greater profitability, Crookston said. Profits are expected to dramatically increase through better efficiency. Those profits will stay with BYU, which will funnel them back into research and learning, he said. The BYU Dairy will also pay a "token" management fee to Farm Management.