Hannah Vander Poel: Advocating on social media as a female dairy farmer

Hannah Vander Poel is a female dairy farmer using social media to advocate for the dairy industry. Under the Instagram name @IDdairygirl, she shares the joys and challenges of dairy farm life from Northern Sky Dairy in Castleford, Idaho. 

Vander Poel can be found elbow-deep in daily work on the 1,000-cow dairy, a sister-site to her home farm where her parents reside, Sky View Dairy, in Bakersfield, California. In between breeding cows and herd data entry, she balances taking classes toward her accounting degree as a satellite student at Boise State University. 

Vander Poel was a featured speaker on the Innovation Stage at the 2020 Dairy Strong Conference held in January in Madison, Wisconsin. There, she shared her social media experience and inspired other dairy farmers to do the same. 

Progressive Dairy Editor Peggy Coffeen sat down with Vander Poel to hear more about the hows and whys behind her social media advocacy.