News

Drennan retires from Missouri Dairy Association

Dave Drennan is retiring. Drennan began his career in the 1970s, serving soybean and corn growers before his work with the Missouri Dairy Association.

“Twenty-three-and-a-half years of traveling the state trying to keep the dairy industry together and moving forward,” Drennan told Brownfield Ag News, taking a break from packing up files.

Among Drennan’s proudest achievements is his involvement in starting a dairy conference and trade show in Springfield, Missouri seven years ago.

“It took off,” said Drennan, “and became the Heart of America Dairy Expo.”

But Drennan has some uneasiness about ending his tenure with the organization of dairy farmers. He worries about the hundreds of dairy farmers leaving the business every year because of financial struggles. Drennan gets emotional talking about the difficulty farmers have paying a growing list of monthly bills.

“You get down to the bottom of the list [of bills], and that’s what you’re living on,” he said. “That’s what your living on.”

Drennan has been with the Missouri Dairy Association since 1995.