As consumer demand for pasture-raised dairy continues to climb, a central Wisconsin farmer is leading efforts to expand opportunities for grass-fed milk production.
Joe Tomandl, a fourth-generation dairy farmer, founded the Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship program and, more recently, the Dairy Grazing Alliance. Although the alliance is less than a year old, its mission is to build a stronger, more vibrant grazing sector.
Data shows that the grass-fed dairy market is on track to grow more than 22 percent, reaching a projected $7 billion by 2031, Tomandl says. Imports currently supply most of that market, which opens the door for U.S. farmers to capture more of the demand, he explains.
“Grazing has been typically adopted by a lot of the ‘ag of the middle’ farms,” he says, referring to mid-sized farms that may struggle to be competitive in both large commodity markets and small direct-to-consumer markets.
“We do think that if we have more deliberate grass-fed markets to produce for, and follow the upward growth of the market, it will give more relevance to (those) dairies.”
Dairy Grazing Alliance stakeholders will work directly on financing, market development, farm profitability, production systems, research, policy, and advocacy for dairy grazing. Part of the alliance’s work will be advocating and advancing continued research studies that showcase dairy grazing’s environmental benefits. Managed dairy grazing is a significant tool in the U.S. dairy industry’s toolbox of effective climate solutions.
Learn more: https://www.dga-national.org/alliance
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