Blog

2025 is already shaping up to be a momentous year at Threemile Canyon Farms. You may not know it from looking out across our fields, but winter is an exciting time here. On the farm side, this seemingly quiet period often involves prepping equipment, facilities, and fields to make sure everything is ready to go for the growing season. At the 24-7 dairy operation, team members are collaborating on their to-do lists and setting ambitious goals for weeks and months ahead.

“2025 is going to be the year we build on things we’ve been doing the last several years, including animal welfare, our genetics program, and developing our team members” says Threemile’s General Manager of Livestock Operations, Jeff Wendler.

Taking full advantage of technology advancements allows Threemile’s dairy and crop farms to focus on efficiency and continually sustaining and improving one another through our closed-loop system.

“We’re looking at how we can incorporate new technology that’s coming down the pipeline. Automation is a big deal and the data we can collect from that will only improve our ability to efficiently operate,” says Director of Livestock Operations Adlai Schuler.

For the farm team, one important area of focus is maximizing every drop of water we use through cutting-edge irrigation practices.

“We have some new technology for monitoring irrigation in our potatoes. We had a chance to use the autonomous pivots on a few circles last year and we want to use them  expand their use in 2025,” says Agronomy Director Nick Benavides.

Irrigation is just one area where leveraging advancement can make us better stewards of the land we farm. Irrigation Director Harry Bither highlights how the team is always working towards improvement. “Every fall, we evaluate how efficiently we as irrigators and farmers irrigated that season. We look at the pumps and motors, the pivots, the pipelines, the sprinklers on the pivots, and the practices we used to deliver the water to the crops. We look at what went well and where we failed. Once water is off [for the season], we start  looking where we can maximize efficiencies and replicating practices that went well.”

Dairy Nutritionist Ehrin Dawson takes a similar approach of continuous improvement with her team and applies it to their work in providing our cows with a diet that optimizes nutrition and milk production. “We are never not looking for places to capture time and improve. I get to work with a very courageous, dedicated, and engaged team of feeders. No matter the challenge, they help work out the problem and find a solution,” says Dawson. “Every day, I am trying to combine the science and art of feeding cows to unlock more of our cows’ genetic potential and produce more milk.” 

Caring for our cows through the highest animal welfare standards remains a top priority for the dairy team as they focus on areas like genetic progress, automation, and data management. For Maternity Manager Brittany Casperson, this means “expanding team member knowledge of job safety and skillsets and capturing more data in a simplified format for future opportunities.”

Threemile is also looking to build its team, whether through filling new roles or providing opportunities for current members to grow. This can mean attending trainings and conferences to advance agricultural practices, enhancing written and verbal communication skills, or bringing on people who, as Harry Bither explains, allow us to maintain “a focus on sustainability, innovation, and being the best food provider possible.”

As we kick off 2025, Jeff Wendler sums up the Threemile team’s commitment to innovation, sustainability, teamwork, stewardship, and feeding the world. “I’m grateful for this community and for the people I work with, the company I work with, and being a part of agriculture. Feeding millions of people is something you can go home and be proud of every night.”