“Innovation” and “sustainability” were the two most often used terms after “dairy” and “cows” during the International Dairy Federation World Dairy Summit in Chicago.
During the conference, more than 1,100 dairy farmers, processors, politicians, and industry professionals from 50 countries celebrated the World Dairy Federation’s 120th anniversary.
On the first day of the season, US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack said that “climate concerns and the impact on our ability to produce” are among the things that keep him up at night. Consumers are eager to invest in sustainable activities, but they must first understand what they are, according to him.
Programs such as the United States Climate Smart Initiative, he claims, are offering “income opportunities” for farmers. Other attempts, such as utilizing manure for sustainable fuel, may give additional value-added opportunities for farmers in the future, he says.
While European and New Zealand dairy farmers spoke extensively about their sustainability initiatives and results during the conference, many American dairy producers also emphasize similar issues on their farms.
Janet Clark, an Eldorado, Wisconsin, farmer and Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin chair, says her business utilizes a range of environmentally friendly techniques in an individual interview during the event. These include utilizing cover crops, having a manure digester, and conserving water – frequently recycling it three times in their dairy business.
In Fond du Lac County, southeastern Wisconsin, the family milks 150 cows and farms 1,100 acres of crops.
Dairy farms are making strides toward sustainability, according to Alex Peterson, a Missouri farmer who milks 150 cows alongside his brother, dad, and now a niece.
The head of the National Dairy Board, who farms in Grundy County in northern Missouri, considers his farm and others to be “independent research farms.” They are always on the lookout for best practices. However, he said that it needs money to discover and deploy more efficient and sustainable goods.
Several speakers said that farmers and the sector are not communicating effectively about their sustainability initiatives.
“As a farmer, it is my intention to talk about our advancements,” Peterson went on to say.
Recognizing that innovation is critical to sustainability, the IDF conducted its second annual innovation awards. A Canadian business that created a novel methane efficiency genetic assessment was among the winners. It assists dairy farmers in genetically selecting animals that will contribute to lower methane emissions while maintaining production levels.
“We’re the first in the world to do this,” Lactanet Canada’s Brian Van Doormaal stated the day after receiving the IDF’s top prize for Innovation in Climate Action.
Others are working on it, but he credits the project’s 10-year success to financing from the Canadian government, research at the University of Guelph, Semex assistance, and foreign institutions. The Canadian business also has the benefit of employing data from 18 million cows as a foundation for the study since 2018.
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The genetic data generated will assist purchasers who want to reduce methane emission in their herds to choose the finest animals for that reason. Semex, a partner in the methane evaluation’s development, and other artificial insemination firms that want to purchase the service may also share the genetic information to their consumers, according to Van Doormaal.
Other foreign innovators were acknowledged for their contributions to sustainable farming, animal welfare, and socioeconomic practices. Communication, food safety and nutrition, environmentally friendly packaging, and women’s empowerment were all acknowledged.
Europeans are ahead of the United States in terms of sustainability rules, but this concerns some. Lloyd Day, deputy director general of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture-Latin America, believes the European Green Deal’s authors did not consult enough farmers while drafting sustainability objectives and standards.
“The rest of the world is scared to death,” Day said of the regulations’ implementation.
He advocates for greater science- and evidence-based policies.
“We need more farmers to get involved,” he says.
Simon Vander Woude, a California dairy farmer, is one who is making an effort to participate. He believes that success starts with economic sustainability – the capacity to manage a firm and raise children to take over.
“We are family farms,” said Vander Woude, who farms with some of his children and is chairman of California Dairies Inc., a milk marketing and processing cooperative co-owned by more than 300 dairy families, as well as first vice-chairman of the National Milk Producers Federation.
The dairy business contains three megawatts of solar electricity, which covers the whole surface of the dairy buildings and supplies 10 to 15% of the power used on the dairy. He said that they wanted to expand larger in order to create a greater proportion of the electricity utilized or to be able to sell some, but rules prevented them from doing so.
Farmers must be able to plan ahead since certain breakthroughs like this take years to execute, but this is challenging in today’s political climate in the United States, according to Vander Woude.
“Water, sustainability, border policy keeps changing,” he said.
Before “the political ping pong of the last 10 years,” the administration in the United States seemed to be more moderate, he remarked. However, he claims that major policy shifts make it harder to prepare for the future.
“A project requires years of planning. “We’re always thinking five and ten,” Vander Woude said.
Nonetheless, he believes farmers will continue to see possibilities in adversities.
“Efficiency is synonymous with sustainability.” “It does more with less,” he said.
Each farm will be sustainable in its own manner, according to Vander Woude.
