Knowing their challenges, Tiffany LaMendola is driven to support dairy producers in her role as a dairy risk manager. Tiffany is part of the Ever.Ag Risk Management team. She works remotely from California which puts her in the heart of the nation’s largest dairy producing state.
“My clients are always on my mind. Every day I think through what I can do to arm them with more information and help them feel secure about how they are operating their businesses.” Tiffany said.
Building a Career in Dairy
The agriculture industry played a crucial role in Tiffany’s upbringing, higher education, and eventual career. Knowing she wanted to work within the industry, Tiffany earned an undergraduate and graduate degree in agricultural economics from the University of California, Davis. After one year of working for the Almond Board of California, Tiffany was recruited to work as the dairy economist for Western United Dairymen.
“It was a steep learning curve. I had to learn dairy inside and out. I worked with dairy producers on pricing, pooling, and policy issues. It was a wonderful way to build my foundation of dairy.” Tiffany said.
After working for WUD for ten years, Tiffany joined the legacy Blimling and Associates team. Her role consisted of assisting clients with risk-management, writing market publications, and working on consulting projects. In her various roles during the near 13 years with Blimling, Tiffany has worked with clients along the entire supply chain.
Supporting Dairy Producers Today
Tiffany has more recently shifted back to spending a larger proportion of her time working with producers. The Dairy Revenue Protection (DRP) program has offered tremendous opportunities for dairy producers and has complemented long-standing risk-management tools available to them. Tiffany works with her clients to utilize the DRP program, Livestock Gross Management for Dairy (LGM-Dairy) program as well as traditional risk management tools to navigate price volatility and manage risk in their dairy operations.
Her daily tasks include monitoring markets, developing strategies, and responding to client requests. Tiffany’s clients rely on her to stay current on the latest industry information. Together, they discuss market outlooks and expectations, and then Tiffany assists in developing and executing strategies.
Navigating 2020 and Beyond
The onset of the pandemic in 2020 brought an onslaught of challenges to the dairy industry. As the obstacles compounded and continued reverberating years after, Tiffany felt profound dedication to her clients navigating the uncertainties of the dairy economy.
One of the best compliments she received was when a dairy producer told her that managing risk the way they did was the best thing that had happened for their business – it helped them weather the storm in 2020.
“Those are the things we are trying to help our clients with daily. We are taking the volatile swings out of the marketplace, particularly those that can damage a business and ultimately take you out of business.” Tiffany said.
Living Life With an Agricultural Focus
Tiffany and her husband, Jeremy, keep agriculture an important focus in their careers and everyday life with their three children, Amber, Haley, and Gabe.
“We want to raise our children to understand where their food comes from, appreciate it, and do whatever we can to maintain it,” Tiffany said.
As a pastime, Tiffany’s entire family is involved in showing cutting horses. Tiffany has participated in competitions since age nine and earned a national and world championship.
Risk Management With Ever.Ag
Tiffany and the entire risk management team at Ever.Ag strives to stay current on market trends and explore “what if” scenarios to develop appropriate strategies for dairy businesses.
If you are interested in learning more about Dairy Revenue Protection (DRP), the Livestock Gross Margin for Dairy (LGM-Dairy), or developing strategies to manage risk for your business, please contact us.