By Sherry Bunting, Farmshine, October 8, 2021

MADISON, Wis. – “It is impossible to overstate the impact Dieter Krieg and Farmshine have had on the dairy industry in 42 years visiting dairy farms and dairy events across the United States. His interviews with top dairymen and dairy leaders have implanted ideas of change to almost all his readers at one time or another over the years,” writes Carl Brown of F.M. Brown Sons, who nominated Dieter for the National Dairy Shrine Hall of Fame Pioneer Leader award.

On Sept. 30 at the National Dairy Shrine (NDS) dinner, Dieter was one of four 2021 Pioneers to be recognized.

“Dieter has been a trailblazer in dairy journalism and occupies a special place in supporting and educating dairy producers and youth. I personally realized the impact that Farmshine was having during one of our Dairy Science Club spring trips,” writes Dale Oliver, Penn State Dairy and Animal Science assistant teaching professor in a letter of recommendation.

“Our group traveled to Arizona to visit some of the leading dairies in that state. One producer wanted to know (the students’) opinions about a recent article published in Farmshine. It was at that point that our students gained a perspective that this publication was not just reaching dairy producers in Pennsylvania but had begun to develop a much broader following,” Oliver said.

Yes, Dieter is known for thought-provoking editorials. A free press is not something he takes for granted, having left Communist East Germany with his family at the age of 10 for freedom in the United States.

Oliver notes that, “Dieter is a humble, caring man who does not seek attention, although he readily provides publicity to others.”

Surprise! There are more pictures and publicity on these two pages than Dieter may be comfortable with, but each one illustrates a connection that can be multiplied many times over — stretching far beyond the few examples here from the NDS awards dinner.
In fact, if you ask him what he has enjoyed most as a publisher, Dieter will tell you it’s the people.

Ever since the June NDS announcement of the 2021 Pioneer recognition, we have been hearing from some of those people — readers, producers, advertisers, colleagues, and former interns who credit Dieter as a mentor, “taking a chance” on them, “giving them a start” that blossomed into careers today that continue that network, touching the lives of others in the dairy industry.

The response has been so overwhelming, we can only capture the essence of so many responses.

From the paper paste-up and wax-board days to the digital era, Dieter continues Farmshine’s mission of rising each week to cover farming and agribusiness as the first and likely only weekly dairy-focused newspaper with over 13,000 subscribers nationwide.

In his letter of recommendation, former Pennsylvania Holstein Association executive director Ken Raney explains that, “Dieter has ‘done it all’ for Farmshine, he is the editor, feature writer, advertising manager, layout, etc., as the paper has grown. His personal approach to stories has created friendships all over the world. Farmshine not only has current dairy information but features successful dairymen of all types, so readers can garner new ideas.”

Ken also describes Dieter as we know him, “an unassuming enthusiast who welcomes ideas, looks for innovative ways to share the dairy industry story and has been a leader in print media, before many publications of this type were available.”

Writes Stephanie Meyers of Merck, “I was Dieter’s first Farmshine intern in 1989. I stopped by the NDS reception to congratulate him and thank him for giving me my start in dairy journalism, communications and marketing. I’m so thankful he hired me and for teaching me the ropes of dairy journalism and encouraging me to pursue my dreams of a career in dairy communications and marketing. It’s a joy to see him recognized for his many contributions to the dairy industry and for his commitment to telling the stories of dairy farmers.”

Josh Hushon of Cargill writes of what it meant to also be an intern with the paper. “This award is so well deserved. Dieter took a chance on me as a summer intern before anyone else was willing. I was 19 at the time, didn’t really know what I was going to do in life, and had a minuscule portfolio of writing. Despite what I didn’t have, Dieter saw what I did have, which was a passion for the dairy industry and work ethic developed on our farm. He opened the first door for me and I am eternally grateful for that.”

Giving back what he learned, Josh seeks to mentor others and wrote a blog a couple years ago after looking back on his own career path and pointing out moments when the right mentor came along with the right opportunity at the right time.

“One of those mentors is Dieter Krieg, who I recently reconnected with through the Holstein Foundation. He was a huge mentor early in my career as I was learning how to be a storyteller and communicator,” writes Josh.

Andrea Haines echoes these sentiments. Today she operates her own business, ALH Word and Image, and she also looks back on her pivotal internship with Dieter at Farmshine.

“I am forever thankful for Dieter and the opportunity he and his family provided me early on in my career. Finding an ‘internship’ within Farmshine for two summers really taught me how to write, edit, piece together a newspaper (wax-adhered layouts), and most importantly, how to network with people of the dairy industry. I will never forget the many rides in Rudolph (the famed 730,000-plus mile Oldsmobile) and long nights putting together the newspaper,” Andrea recalls.

Karen Wheatley, another intern with a career in the dairy industry notes “Dieter was my mentor too, and the man who got me interested in ‘really’ writing!”

Former Lancaster Farming editor Andy Andrews notes that, “Dieter has been the voice of dairy agribusiness for four decades! He is the publisher and editor the industry has come to rely on; great reporting and fearless with his observations. Dairy farmers have been blessed with his hard work and ‘udder’ devotion.”

Dairy producers also express their appreciation, and friends recount stories. Dave Bitler of Berks County, Pa., notes that he has always been very proud to call Dieter a friend. Recalling the summer of 1973, Dave writes: “We milked together at Dr. Carl Troop’s south of Quarryville. I always enjoyed Dieter’s company and his sharing about his family’s history in Germany and their coming to the United States. Looking back on my life back then as a new high school graduate, I was probably annoying, but Dieter was always kind.”

John and Linda Kisner of northern Pennsylvania write their thoughts as Farmshine readers. Linda recalls Dieter driving through a local town and stopping for gas, seeing the paper that had pictures of their triplet calves on the cover. “He looked us up, came out and took pictures (in Rudolph). Dad loved it.”

“Sometimes it just takes someone in a position to shine a light on certain issues,” adds John. “I think being independent with his own publication has allowed him the opportunity to do that a few times over the years. Where would we be without that sort of initiative?”

Another Pennsylvania farmer, Jeremy Meck, recalls being in 4-H with Dieter as one of the CowsRus 4-H leaders. “I remember learning that he had a small barn and milked a few cows. Even though he was the editor of a great farming newspaper, he still woke up every morning to milk cows before work,” writes Jeremy. “He is a role model for the industry.”

So many more thoughts have been written, but this one brings us back full circle. You see, Dieter wanted to be a dairy farmer, to follow in his father’s footsteps. As his father and brother moved the dairy from Pennsylvania to Florida and grew it to over 500 cows in the 1970s, Dieter wanted to find a farmer to work for in Pennsylvania and maybe find a transition situation where he could work toward having a smaller farm of his own. He confesses that was the reason he took that first newspaper job as editor of the farm page in the Pennsylvania Mirror.

What better way to meet farmers and build connections?

In his last semester at Penn State in Dairy and Animal Science, Dieter had taken a creative writing course because he did enjoy writing letters to family still in Germany, and he enjoyed writing about life on the farm (which later became a popular Farmshine column).

Right off the bat, he innovated that farm page in the Pennsylvania Mirror using a photo of a barn and placing various ag news stories on the side of that barn.

“I was told it wasn’t normal newspaper style, but my goal was that people would not overlook the farm page,” Dieter recalls. To this day, Dieter loves creating page layouts and using big pictures.

It was a hit, and he was a natural, and he found that he loved the job. So the job that was taken originally to meet and connect with more farmers to potentially work into a farm management position turned out to be the calling he was born to follow, which led him to blaze a trail for a weekly all-dairy newspaper in 1979 — no small feat.

After 42 years, what has he loved most? You guessed it: the people. While there is satisfaction in writing the stories and putting the finished product together, for Dieter, it’s really all about the people.

Like agriculture, the newspaper business has its ups and downs, and getting started meant many years of long hours putting the paper together and much travel gathering news and stories. When he looks back, even those early 100-hour weeks, though trying, were enjoyable. Sitting at a banquet, for instance, isn’t really work when you enjoy it, he says.

The mission of Farmshine, he says, always was and still is to get the word out, to tell the story, to cover the issues.

When he looks back at how it all came together, Dieter told the NDS awards dinner crowd, it is obvious God’s hand was working through it because all the pieces came together even before he realized Farmshine would be born. He expressed sincere gratitude for all who had a hand in it, including those who saw something in him to encourage along the way.

In her letter, Mary Shenk Creek of Palmyra Farms notes that, “Dieter and his staff address all aspects of the dairy industry from commercially producing milk to the purebred sector and including alternative niche market opportunities. They do a wonderful job of highlighting individuals and unique accomplishments to shine a light on the personal side of our industry. Dieter is not afraid to tackle controversial issues and takes great effort to show an unbiased report while allowing editorials that stimulate thought.”

She sums up what so many feel, including me, having worked with Dieter on staff and in the later years as a freelance Farmshine contributor…

Mary says it so well: “The things I admire most about Dieter are his energy, enthusiasm and dedication. He is relentless in his commitment to serving agriculture and the dairy industry.”

Thank you Dieter for being a dairy journalism trailblazer, for starting Farmshine, the unique weekly all dairy newspaper 42 years ago, for shining a light, telling the stories, building connections, and touching the lives of others through the news, and so much more.

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