The journey, of course, starts at the farm where our nation’s nearly 30,000 dairy families are established environmental stewards, leaders and innovators. But new research and on-farm technologies can open the door for farmers to choose even more practices and technologies that are good for the Earth and their bottom line.
Companies, including processors, retailers and others, are looking to strengthen their sustainability story to the person who has the final say: the consumer. There are many research points as to how trends have shifted, but here is one that sticks with me the most: 83 percent of consumers say a company’s sustainability performance impacts their purchase decision.
It’s a clear message that any industry or company that wants to maintain consumer loyalty and trust must offer proof points that their products are made in a way consumers can feel good about.
Two of the world’s most recognized and successful brands – Starbucks and Nestlé – certainly understand this importance and are taking leadership actions, including partnering with dairy, to show they are meeting, if not exceeding, consumer expectations.
Dairy is a critical component of the many foods and beverages they produce, so they have enhanced their relationships with our industry in a very powerful way.
Starbucks and Nestlé are partners of the U.S. Dairy Net Zero Initiative (NZI) and each has invested $10 million over 5 years to support farmers on their transition to net zero. On-farm pilot work is possible thanks to the support of these companies and several others. The goal is to demonstrate practices and technologies that are environmentally sustainable, feasible and economically viable for U.S. dairies.
The rewarding part is seeing how willing Starbucks and Nestlé have been to learn from our industry experts, including the most important: our dairy farmers. These companies aren’t dictating to farmers but rather listening and learning from them to arrive at shared and beneficial objectives. Starbucks and Nestlé representatives are setting foot on dairy farms to display a true spirit of collaboration.
And they are proudly sharing updates of their progress with their very loyal base of consumers.
In June, Starbucks published content in the “Starbucks Stories & News” section of its website, providing an overview of its Sustainable Dairy Program in the U.S. The work aims to advance environmental stewardship, help enhance farmer and workforce conditions and help ensure the quality care of animals.
The story highlights how the company has enrolled 100 percent of the dairy it purchases in California in the program with a goal of enrolling more than 60 percent of its total U.S. supply chain by year’s end.
Additionally, Starbucks is working with Florida’s Alliance Dairies and part-owner Jan Henderson on implementing technologies and practices to demonstrate outcomes that can be shared to help farmers.
On the Nestlé front, the company is spotlighting its Nestlé Health Science collaboration with Washington dairy farmer Austin Allred. The company is supporting innovation at Allred’s dairy in the areas of sustainable feed, manure management, renewable energy and regenerative agriculture. Allred’s Royal Dairy farm joins Nestlé Health Science’s family of dairy suppliers for its Carnation Breakfast Essentials ® nutritional powder drink mix.
As exciting as it’s been working with Starbucks and Nestlé, there are other projects in play to deliver more support and benefits to farmers. One example is the Greener Cattle Initiative (GCI), jointly created by the checkoff-founded Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy and the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research.
Its focus is on the mitigation of enteric methane emissions, the biggest contributor to U.S. on-farm emissions but an issue that receives the least amount of federal funding on agricultural climate-mitigation research.
GCI brings together resources (including funding) to support research on enteric methane mitigation and there has been an exceptional response across the dairy value chain since its launch in November of 2021.
Some of the world’s most recognizable organizations from the food and agriculture industry, commodity groups and non-profits are extending the reach of farmers’ checkoff dollars, including ADM, Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding, Elanco, Genus PLC, National Dairy Herd Information Association, Nestlé, JBS USA and the New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre.
We are on track to award more than $5 million in grants to fund projects focused on decreasing enteric methane!
Much more work continues and I have optimism that we’ll build a deeper suite of support for our farmers. Afterall, success breeds success and that is thanks to powerful partners who are working with dairy to lead the way.
To learn more about your national dairy checkoff, visit www.USDairy.com. To reach us directly, send an email to TalkToTheCheckoff@dairy.org.
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