GREEN BAY, Wis. — Edge Dairy Farmer Cooperative is partnering with Farmers for Sustainable Food on the FSF Climate-Smart Program. The program, which launched last year, helps farmers determine what conservation practices are most effective for their individual farms and provides tools to document their environmental impacts. Funding for the program comes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities award.
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In the program’s first year, 53 farmers participated and together reduced enough carbon dioxide from the air “equivalent to powering 6,602 U.S. homes for one year or removing 11,467 U.S. passenger vehicles from the road,” said Drew Kessler, scientist and principal of Houston Engineering, Inc., during a panel discussion on the Climate-Smart Program at Dairy Strong.
“The first year of the FSF Climate-Smart Program shows promising results as part of a five-year effort to empower farmers and add value throughout the supply chain,” he said.
As part of the program, FSF assists farmers in collecting various data from their farms. Contractors, such as Houston Engineering, Inc., then run the data through models to generate greenhouse gas emissions, carbon scores and other information. The results are shared with farmers, who then set goals for the following year. Farmers receive compensation for participating in the program.
“The program has been such a success that we’re already at capacity for our second year,” Kessler said.
Farmers are not required to share their data with anyone outside of the program.
While Kessler explained how the program worked, three farmers who participated in it shared their own stories about the impact the FSF Climate-Smart Program had on their individual dairies.
Kristin Quist, part-owner of Minglewood Inc., a dairy farm in Polk County, Wis., uses several sustainable practices including a Sterjnholm Sand Separator, which was the first one installed in the nation. She said her first-year score created a good baseline for the next several years.
“The data is new to us, but we shared it with our creamery, who were happy to see it and that we were participating in this program,” Quist said. “I think most of us are already taking steps to be sustainable, such as no-till farming and using cover crops. This is a way to connect it back to our carbon footprint.”
Patrick Maier, a partner in Maier Farms, LLC in Dane County, Wis., participated in the FSF Climate-Smart Program since he wanted to know more about how much carbon dioxide his farm produced.
“I knew more consumers were interested in the carbon footprint of some products and thought it would be a good idea to learn more about our farm’s carbon output,” he said.
Michael Crinion, an owner of a dairy farm in Lake Benton, Minn., said consumer product manufacturers are interested in hearing what farmers are doing to decrease their carbon footprint and may be willing to pay a little extra for dairy products made from a smaller footprint.
“This is a topic that consumers are interested in so it’s good to have this information available because it’s something consumers will want to know,” he said. “We can use this information to tell our own stories since the general consumer does not know what steps we’ve been taking.”
Crinion informed his processor about his dairy’s involvement in the program, and it is now talking with a cheesemaker to see if they’re willing “to pay a little bit more money for milk that comes from a dairy with more sustainable practices. We don’t know unless it’s asked.”
As part of the FSF Climate-Smart Program, farmers have the opportunity to review their scores with an expert so they can understand the information and use it to make management decisions. Maier said the data collection process was a commitment, but receiving the results and working on plans to become even more sustainable was worth it.
“I learned a lot from going through the program and we came away with a lot of good information so we can do better next year,” he said.
This year’s Dairy Strong conference brought over 400 attendees, representing over 150,000 cows, and industry professionals to Green Bay for the annual conference.
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