US dairy leaders have announced an industry-wide commitment and action plan to reduce fluid milk’s carbon footprint while increasing business value.

The action plan is an outcome of the industry’s first Sustainability Summit for US Dairy, which saw 250 producers, processors, non-governmental organizations, university researchers, and government agencies gather in Arkansas, US. The plan focuses on operational efficiencies and innovations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while ensuring financial viability and industry growth.
“Sustainability is a challenge that requires industry-wide solutions, and our efforts establish a new standard for industry collaboration,” says Thomas Gallagher, CEO of Dairy Management Inc. (DMI), the non-profit organisation that manages the national dairy check-off program on behalf of America’s dairy producers. “Decision makers from across the dairy value chain are working together to commit to concrete, innovative solutions. This will ensure an economically, environmentally, and socially sustainable industry.”
Summit attendees recommended a number of actions, including reducing energy use by developing technologies for next generation milk processing and establish a mechanism to optimise returns to the dairy industry from a carbon credit trading system that encourages the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. They will also aim to implement financially viable best management practices and tools that calculate individual farm energy and alternative energy opportunities while supplying green power to communities by expanding the use of methane digesters.
The Sustainability Summit was the first major step in a comprehensive dairy industry-wide initiative bringing together producers, processors, and others to identify and address sustainability opportunities.