Tara Vander Dussen, the New Mexico Milkmaid, is “udderly in love with dairy.” I was fortunate to meet Tara and witness her passion first–hand during a recent visit to her family farm, Rajen Dairy, in Eastern New Mexico. Tara is a fifth–generation Dutch dairy farmer who left the farm after high school to earn an environmental science degree from the University of Arizona. It wasn’t her plan to come back, but after marrying her husband Daniel, Tara returned to dairy. Now she works alongside Daniel, his parents…
There’s strong evidence antibiotics used in livestock and poultry are not driving antibiotic resistance in humans, that responsible use of antibiotics minimizes agriculture’s environmental impact, and unsafe antibiotic residue in food from animals is uncommon. While science is the foundation of those findings, and decision-making processes people use to form opinions are complex, it can be discouraging when groups or individuals choose to support science only when it agrees with issues upon which they’ve made up their minds.