The Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy announced the 2019 U.S. Dairy Sustainability Awards winners last week and honored Foremost Farms USA and General Mills with the award for Outstanding Supply Chain Collaboration. The companies were recognized for their efforts on a three-year pilot program that produced a combined 11% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for 16 dairy farmers in Michigan.
“IDFA is proud that our members, Foremost Farms and General Mills, participated in the pilot and demonstrated the successes that can come from sustained and targeted collaboration,” said Michael Dykes, D.V.M., president and CEO of IDFA. “We commend their efforts on continuous improvement across the dairy supply chain.”
The awards program, now in its eighth year, recognizes dairy farms, businesses and partnerships whose practices improve the well-being of people, animals and the planet. The judges evaluated the nominations based on their economic, environmental and community impact, as well as their innovation and the ability of the actions to be replicated on a larger scale.
Outstanding Supply Chain Collaboration
Foremost Farms is committed to conserving resources, protecting the environment and caring for animals, and General Mills has set a goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 28% across the value chain by 2025 to address climate change. Because dairy is a priority ingredient for several General Mills brands, including Yoplait yogurt, Foremost Farms was a strong partner for collaborative work on GHG reductions.
(L to R) Foremost Farms dairy farmer Cortney VanOeffelen, Kevin O’Donnell of General Mills, Craig Metz of EnSave Inc. and Josh Luth of Foremost Farms.
In 2016, Foremost Farms convened a network of 16 Michigan dairy farmers who supply milk to General Mills’ yogurt plant to join global sourcing and sustainability experts from General Mills to share ideas, align goals and run a pilot test using a science-based assessment tool. The Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM) Environmental Stewardship module is designed to help farmers improve efficiencies, reduce costs and track their performance against environmental goals.
The module provides a comprehensive estimate of a farm’s GHG emissions and energy use, which allows farmers to gauge their carbon footprint, identify areas for improvement, explore new practices, track performance and reduce costs. It also helps farmers reevaluate equipment use and consider operational efficiencies from increased training or improved practices.
The group also met with experts from other companies, including Newtrient, EnSave Inc. and Consumers Energy, to discuss innovations and collaborate on financial assistance and other incentives to help reduce the costs of implementing improvements. After three years, the participating farms had a combined 11% reduction in GHG, which outperformed the national and regional benchmark averages.
For more information, contact Danielle Quist, IDFA senior director of regulatory affairs and counsel, at dquist@idfa.org.