Women Drive Florida’s Dairy Industry Forward

In partnership with: Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services

The women of Florida’s dairy industry are integral to its continued success. From milk to value-added products like ice cream, dairy producers have found ways to carry on their family legacies while navigating a changing industry. 

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A Family Business

Cousins Courtney Campbell and Brittany Thurlow come from a long line of dairy farmers. Their grandfather moved from New York as a teenager and settled in Wauchula, where he and his wife later purchased a few Jersey cows with a bank loan. Of their three sons, two decided to pursue careers in dairy. Now, Campbell and Thurlow are part of the fifth generation of dairy farmers with four farms all in Hardee County. 

“I knew from a very young age that this was exactly what I wanted to do,” Campbell says. 

Campbell and Thurlow manage Nickerson Bar III and Nickerson Cattle Company, respectively. Both Thurlow and Campbell helped out on the farm growing up, where a strong example was set by the women who worked on the farm before them, from their mothers to their grandmother.

“Behind every man is a strong woman,” Thurlow says. “Our grandmother, Phyllis Nickerson, was certainly one of those women. Women like her have always been a big piece of agriculture, supporting the farm at home while the husband served on boards and other community initiatives in a more visible way.”

Their farms, which are home to about 2,000 cows, produce milk that is processed and sold locally in Florida. As a “Fresh From Florida” farm, consumers can see from the label the milk is fresh and local. 

The state’s unique infrastructure presents a range of benefits and challenges for dairy farmers. For one, the cattle on Campbell and Thurlow’s farms are in the pasture for 20 hours a day, 365 days a year, thanks to mild winters in the Southeast.

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Yet, the number of dairy farms 
in Florida has declined due to economic and environmental factors. Thurlow and Campbell have made it a priority to be involved in their community and the dairy industry at large, encouraging other women farmers to do the same. 

“We should keep investing in the future of female farmers because there’s an absolute need for us here in the industry,” Thurlow says. “While we may be the minority, we are certainly an asset to the industry.”

Campbell adds some words of encouragement to other female farmers: “Don’t give up.”

Small Scale Speaks

Dairies like Cindale Farms have embraced small herd sizes and artisanal value-added products. 

Meghan Austin grew up in a dairy farming family and jokes, “Growing up a dairy kid, you either run as far away from it as you can, or it’s in your blood.”

Having returned to a life in dairy after years as a veterinarian, Austin now runs Cindale Farms with her family, as well as Southern Craft Creamery, an ice cream shop in historic downtown Marianna. 

“We should keep investing in the future of female farmers because there’s an absolute need for us here in the industry.”

– Brittany Thurlow, Nickerson Cattle Company Manager

Cindale Farms houses around
500 head of cattle, with 300 milking cows. By keeping their operation small, the family can focus on quality over quantity.

“It fits what we desire to manage for employee scale, cow scale, and what fits with our environment and our property,” Austin says. “We want to be able to have a conversation about the quality of our product.”

In 2017, Cindale Farms won the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ Agricultural-Environmental Leadership Award recognizing environmentally innovative farming practices of the state’s growers and ranchers, which came as a pleasant surprise for Austin.

“I’m super honored to be amongst the mix of people who have won that award,” Austin says. 

Southern Craft Creamery sells a range of ice creams, from traditional flavors to unique combinations like Tupelo Honey and Bay Laurel. Both the farm and the creamery are open to the public for scheduled tours, including schools and agriculture groups. Each October, the farm and creamery participate in the Annual Farm Tour held by the Millstone Institute for Preservation, which features more than 50 farms across the Panhandle and beyond.