Global dairy agenda publishes annual report

Global Dairy Agenda for Action announces the publication of its inaugural dairy sustainability framework annual report.

Launched at the world dairy summit in Yokahama in October 2013, the DSF was developed as part of a wider sector effort to continually improve sustainability performance and transparency.

Brian Lindsay, development director for DSF and the sector lead for sustainability, says, “Over the past year, we have improved our understanding of the way the DSF works around the world, and we are learning to work well together across our different geographies. We hope our first annual report will serve to encourage dialogues between the dairy sector and our sustainability stakeholders.”

The report outlines how members, who currently represent 17% of global milk production and over half a million farmers with a total of nearly 18 million cows, will report on their own sustianabilitu initiatives along a continuous improvement spectrum. Many of these initiatives already have targets set against them and will be reported on in an aggregated manner in future DSF annual reports.

Tobie de Villiers, general manager of milk procurement for South Africa’s clover explains, “The framework that the DSF has created provides a good foundation for our own sustainable developments. We learn a lot from sustainable research and development projects from all over the world.”

Donald Moore, chairman of the GDAA and executive director of global dairy platform, adds, “The DSF enables the GDAA to take a holistic approach to sustainability through an alignment of international sustainability activity. In this way, participants share a ‘common language’ that allows for coordination among groups working on similar objectives, the ability to connect and share experiences, and an opportunity to accelerate progress to improve performance.”