Recently released ‘Profiles in Sustainability’ series shares dairy’s commitment to sustainability

A concerted, positive movement is sweeping the countryside.  Thanks to the advent of smartphones, flip cameras and social media, farmers are telling their stories directly to their consumers, neighbors and community leaders.  Look on YouTube and you’ll find videos such as “What we do on our family dairy farm” and “Caring for animals on a dairy farm.”                                                       

The need for farmers to share their successes with those who benefit from their hard work has never been more important.  For if they don’t tell their story – the fact is – someone else will. 

In an effort to support dairy farmers in communicating their positive and powerful sustainability story, Dairy Cares recently released “Profiles in Sustainability,” a six-part, 35 minute video series illustrating the dairy community’s sustainability achievements.  The series, produced in collaboration with the California Dairy Research Foundation and the Dairy Council of California, is available for viewing on-line at www.DairyCares.com/videos. 

Since their release, the videos have been distributed to interested parties and stakeholders via the internet and DVD.  The series is currently enjoying an extended run as part of the Los Angeles County Fair’s “FairKids Field Trip Program.”  More than 125,000 students, chaperones and teachers have participated in the program – where the video series runs in a continuous loop – in the month of September.  

Last month’s column provided a brief overview of the “Profiles in Sustainability” series and the scope of what sustainability means to the dairy community.  This month, we decided to feature the video participants in their own words by highlighting excerpts from each of the episodes.

Episode 1 – Dairy Cares about Sustainability


“The definition of sustainability is being able to go on and on and on without degrading either the land or the community or the welfare of the animals.  And we’ve been operating here pretty much same way for 118 years.” – Dino Giacomazzi, Dairy farmer

Episode 2 – Dairy Cares about Animal Well-Being

“We call these diets total mixed rations and these total mixed rations incorporate the forage and the fiber side, the proteins and the energy side and the vitamins and minerals so that every bite that these animals take would be something that would satisfy the requirements that they have for growth and health and, or milk production if we’re talking about those type animals.” – Tim Riordan, Dairy nutritionist

Episode 3 – Dairy Cares about Communities 

 “Each generation gives more and more and pretty soon you build up a society, a community, a sustainable area that you can live and work and raise your family.” –Tony Mendes, Dairy farmer

Episode 4 – Dairy Cares about Climate Change

“Because the great news is as dairy farmers, we have done such a tremendous job as far as reducing our greenhouse gases.  And through the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, we’re actually hoping to reduce greenhouse gases even more by focusing on projects that will affect greenhouse gases across the board.  And by the year 2020, they want to reduce greenhouse gases by another 25 percent.” – Kimberly Clauss, Dairy farmer

Episode 5 – The National Dairy FARM Program

“They [dairy farmers] were responding to consumer questions about animal welfare and they were also responding to their own true desires to do the ethically right thing.  In fact, I give them incredibly high marks because they were the first group to use the word ethics in farm animal welfare.” – Dr. Jim Reynolds, Veterinarian 

Episode 6 – Dairy Cares about Nutrition

 “Since milk is such a nutrient dense food, it’s what we call getting a lot of bang for your buck.  We get a lot of vitamins and minerals at a low calorie cost by providing students with milk.  You couldn’t really have a balanced diet without having milk as part of your meal choices.” – Anne Gaffney, Registered Dietitian

As dairy farmers work to produce safe, nutritious and affordable dairy products, Dairy Cares members remain committed to proactively sharing the dairy community’s positive sustainability story now and into the future.  To request a free DVD copy of the “Profiles in Sustainability” series, please email DairyCares@gmail.com.