Dairy processors are incorporating sustainability into their everyday operations and long-term strategic planning. But this isn’t an overnight thing.
Jennifer Block, Senior Vice President of Industry Relations for the Innovation Center for US Dairy, says they have custom built tools for dairy processors to be able to better measure their greenhouse gas emissions. She explains more about these tools and how they are helping farmers while staying true to their strategic plan.
“We know that around two percent of total greenhouse gas emissions is from agriculture,” says Block. “We looked at where the biggest areas of greenhouse gas are and around 70 percent of the footprint of a gallon of milk is on the farm. So we’ve launched a program with the dairy community to look at the footprint of a farm and look at research projects, technologies and practices that can be implemented, making sure that they are all financially viable.
The center launched a new strategic plan in 2022 that focuses on advancing well-being, regenerating the environment , and care for animals and communities. These three pillars are critically important to building trust with consumers and dairy buyers.
“We’re looking at incentivizing cover crops as part of the net zero initiative and encouraging transparency of our farmers,” says Block. “U.S. Dairy companies have formed the U.S. Dairy Stewardship Commitment, which has an on-farm measurement tool called Farm Environmental Stewardship Module. This is a unified way in measuring scope and greenhouse gas emissions which is a high priority for farmers.”
This tool and other resources provided help the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy reach their goals. They launched an environmental goal to be greenhouse gas emission neutral by 2050 and to optimize their water use. Other individual companies have goals of earlier targets to meet reductions by 2030.
Block adds, “About 80 percent of U.S. dairy milk production has a goal that demonstrates that they’re committed to the collective goals. So we have demonstrated as a community that we’re standing behind those goals and making improvements along the way, because really a 2050 goal may seem like it’s a long way but it’s not and our dairy buyers actually want to see what progress we are making.”
Leave a Reply