Consumers can be thankful for advancements in sustainability by California dairy families

Millions of American families will gather around dinner tables this holiday season to reflect and give thanks. Likely on the list of things to be thankful for will be the turkey, stuffing and many other holiday foods that fill plates and ultimately bellies.

Indeed, American consumers have a lot to be thankful for when it comes to food.  We all enjoy a plethora of delicious, affordable, safe and nutritious food options 365 days-a-year thanks to the efficiency, innovation and hard work of U.S. farmers and ranchers.

Consumers of dairy products can also be thankful and have confidence that their milk was produced sustainably right here in California.  From environmental stewardship and responsible animal care to investments in local communities by creating jobs, boosting the tax base and charitable giving, dairy families continue to demonstrate they are committed to sustainability on and off the farm.   

This past year, dairy families collectively launched and made significant progress on a number of sustainability initiatives that are good for people, the planet and animals.  Here are some brief highlights of their efforts.

Dairy families joined together to launch the Central Valley Dairy Representative Monitoring Program (CVDRMP), a new pioneering initiative to further protect and improve water quality across California’s Central Valley.  Already operating under the strictest water quality protection measures in the nation, dairy families have begun investing millions of dollars to install a special network of groundwater monitoring wells.  This network will provide some of the most precise measurements to date of the effectiveness of various dairy management techniques designed to protect and preserve groundwater quality.  Nearly 1,200 dairies are participating in the voluntary program with 108 monitoring wells already installed in the Central Valley.

In 2010, dairy families joined together to launch the National Dairy FARM (Farmers Assuring Responsible Management) Program, a comprehensive animal care and well-being verification program.  FARM includes standards of care for all animals, an on-farm evaluation according to those standards and independent, third-party program verification.  Since its implementation, more than 725 California dairy farms have been evaluated using the program’s 77-point animal care and well-being guidelines.  Click here to watch a short video about California dairy farmers’ efforts to implement the National Dairy FARM Program.

Individual dairy families as well as farmer-owned cooperatives also worked to improve the quality of life in the communities in which they live and farm.  Just recently, Land O’ Lakes dairy cooperative in Tulare donated 12,000 half-gallon cartons of milk to local food banks to help the needy.  The complete story is available at Dairy Donation. 

Further examples of the deep roots dairy families have in California, along with their commitment to community, are profiled in a short video segment recently released by Dairy Cares.  Watch “Dairy Cares about communities” here.

As families gather around the table this holiday season to celebrate and give thanks, they can be assured that dairy families are in it for the long term and committed to a more sustainable California now and into the future.