The Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy last week published a guide to help farms and dairy companies to measure and report on sustainability.
The Stewardship and Sustainability Guide for U.S. Dairy identifies important indicators for assessing dairy sustainability and communicating results. The indicators are based on scientific life cycle assessment studies commissioned by the Innovation Center, and the practical experience of industry members and other experts from nongovernmental, academic and government organizations.
The guide underwent a thorough review process by representatives from across the dairy industry and is now available for a 60-day consultation period, the Innovation Center says.
“This Guide allows dairy farmers, like my family, to voluntarily self-assess our environmental footprint,” said Brian Medeiros, co-owner of Medeiros & Son Dairy and pilot tester of the Stewardship and Sustainability Guide. “For our dairy, we see exceptional value in using the Guide in conjunction with tools like Farm Smart, to help pinpoint opportunities for improvement that make good business sense and help us continue to be good stewards of our natural resources.”
The guide provides dairy operations with tools to continuously improve and communicate results, according to the Innovation Center. By establishing common measurements and language, the guide gives retailers and manufacturers the consistent information they need to track their sustainable sourcing and supply chain management goals
Last year, the Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences launched an online version of the Vital Capital Index (VCI) for dairy agriculture to help dairy farmers measure their sustainability and manage their farms through continuous improvement. The VCI is made up of 40 field-tested, practical sustainability indicators of impacts on vital natural, social, human, built and financial capitals developed in consultation with dairy farmers.
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Founder, Hower Impact
Mike Hower is the founder of Hower Impact — a boutique consultancy delivering strategic communication advisory and support for corporate sustainability, ESG and climate tech.
Published May 18, 2013 7pm EDT / 4pm PDT / 12am BST / 1am CEST