Five farmer seats open for new Environmental Stewardship Task Force!

Steve Schlangen has been a member of the Associated Milk Producers Inc. (AMPI) Board of Directors since 2001 and was the chairman from 2011 – 2024. He also has served on the National Milk Producers Federation Board of Directors. Steve and his wife Cheryl operate a 65-cow dairy farm with a robotic milking system near Albany, Minn.

The Schlangens have participated in the NRCS Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) since 2005. In 2016, the Schlangens became certified through the Minnesota Agricultural Water Quality Certification Program (MAWQCP). The Schlangens were the sole farmer participants on the start-up committee that became the Headwaters Agriculture Sustainability Partnership (HASP). The program was formalized in 2018 and is focused on implementing farmer-led conservation projects. They are also among early adopters in the Ecosystem Services Market Consortium, an initiative focused on gathering research to develop ecosystem service markets to pay farmers for adopting practices that protect the environment across the agricultural landscape.

The couple was honored with the Outstanding Dairy Farm Sustainability Award from the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy in 2022. They have four grown children and five grandchildren.

Brandon Clark serves as the Sustainability Manager at United Dairymen of Arizona (UDA), where he leads initiatives to embed sustainability across the cooperative. His focus spans from optimizing farm-level operations to ensuring environmentally responsible practices within UDA’s manufacturing facilities, driving a cohesive and impactful sustainability strategy throughout the entire supply chain.

Prior to joining UDA, Brandon worked at Boeing as part of the Performance Based Logistics team, focusing on enhancing shipping, transportation, and import efficiencies to support the United States military, both domestically and internationally. Before Boeing, he gained valuable experience in the dairy consumer packaged goods sector at Isagenix, where he managed the worldwide distribution of food products, working closely with suppliers and logistics carriers to optimize supply chain operations.

Brandon holds a bachelor’s degree in supply chain management, which he leverages to enhance sustainable practices for UDA’s members, suppliers, and customers. His unique expertise in supply chain logistics and supplier sustainability enables him to create impactful strategies that benefit the entire cooperative.