Earth Day is Thursday, April 22. The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) wants everyone to know that dairy farmers produce a perishable product harvested around the clock, every day of the year. Dairy’s leadership in sustainable agriculture includes the promotion of soil health, optimizing water use, improving water quality and more. Dairy-farm livelihoods depend on healthy, vibrant ecosystems, and well-operated dairies of any size, in any region, enhance the ecosystems that surround them.
NMPF notes that dairy farms across the nation are adopting conservation tillage, diversifying their crop rotations and cultivating cover crops to improve soil health. They are also adding precision feed management that improves cow health and achieves production efficiencies. They’re innovating with manure management technologies that produce energy and reduce impacts on air and water quality.
Despite differences in geography, technology, and management style, dairy farmers are unified by a core concept: Care for the planet that sustains them and their customers. In tangible, measurable ways, dairy farmers have much to celebrate on Earth Day.
To learn more about sustainable agriculture in the dairy industry, click here.