Jisa Farms gives back during continued growth

The sign outside of Jisa Cheese headquarters in Brainard welcomes visitors and employees.
The sign outside of Jisa Cheese headquarters in Brainard welcomes visitors and employees.
Courtesy photo
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When production and ethanol plants reduced capacity, local meat lockers filled their calendars, and local dairies dumped milk because tanks filled with no place to go, Jisa Farms never wavered. The local dairy continued to produce because they simply had to.

While local hog producers, in extreme cases, had to euthanize animals because of space and logistics, those at Jisa Farms empathized while also feeling fortunate.

“It's not quite as severe as euthanizing an animal, but that's still their paycheck,” said Rod Johnson, media relations for Jisa Farms.

Johnson used to work for Nebraska Dairy Association up until his retirement about 19 months ago. He's been with Jisa Dairy since then.

Located in Brainard but with a distribution radius that encompasses the local Pac'N'Saves, the dairy farmstead started in 1946 and eventually installed a cheese plant on the farm. That's allowed Jisa Farms to produce farmstead-style cheese since 2005.

“It's more of a hands-on process than the commercial cheeses,” Johnson said. “They use a whole-milk product so it's a different texture.”

Johnson said the variety of flavors and distribution range is unique to an operation of its size. And when the pandemic hit the agricultural sector, it threw obstacles at the operation. Then, the United States Department of Agriculture implemented the Farmers to Families Food Box Program as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, passed on March 27. Since its implementation, the program has delivered over 100 million food boxes to families. In September the USDA announced new contracts of up to $1 billion for a third round of deliveries.

That program also allowed Jisa Farms to take a portion of its product, originally allotted for restaurant distribution, and deliver it to local food banks.

“We've been making cheese and selling it through two different distributers,” Johnson said. “We've sent stuff to food banks throughout the region. It's been good for those affected.”

Johnson said Jisa Farms saw some drop in business with the pandemic's onset, since more people started purchasing groceries instead of going out to eat. He said business has since rebounded.

“People at home are buying more cheese and the fact that this is a local product made right here in Butler County, that's a key point as far as people are accepting it and looking at it to help the local places,” Johnson said.

That's helped maintain a steady production line. After all, the cows have to be milked every day. Johnson said Jisa Farms hired new employees since business has rebounded. And while the worst should be in the past, the expiration of the food bank program brings some difficult decisions.

The Food to Families Program's recent fourth-period extension runs through the end of the year, but there's no guarantees after that. As another wave of the coronavirus spreads, the farmstead has to think proactively in case its distribution points get pinched again.

“It is an expense that the USDA is covering,” Johnson said. “And it's going to be indefinite need but how long can they maintain a program at this level?”