At Penn State Extension’s Women in Dairy Conference held on Nov. 19, Joanna Shipp, a seventh-generation dairy farmer from Virginia and chair of the National Dairy Promotion and Research Board, reflected on what the next 20 years of dairy could look like in the U.S.

Sustainable farming has never been more important. Not only can prioritizing sustainability be beneficial to the environment and public perception, but also to your long-term success and the bottom line. Read how three Ontario dairy producers are implementing sustainable measures on their farms.

As the conversation around carbon continues to evolve, the Professional Dairy Producers (PDP) held the Carbon Conference 3.0 in Madison, Wisconsin, at the end of January to inform dairy producers and allied industry of current strategies to turn carbon challenges into business opportunities.

Since the turn of the century, sustainability has been integrated into business strategies, giving birth to the triple bottom line – people, planet and profit. This has expanded how people think about sustainability. It is more than environment and includes economic and social or societal dimensions.   

Shipwheel Cattle Feeders, under the stewardship of Andrea Stroeve-Sawa, exemplifies a modern approach to cattle farming that successfully integrates custom cattle feeding with flexible grazing strategies and continuously improves.

In a room filled with dairy producers, processors and customers, farmer Mitch Breunig looked around and announced, “I’m really impressed with how many people care about sustainability. … Everyone is this room is here because of the dairy cow, and improving the dairy cow is going to be the path to make this sustainability journey come together.” 

Addressing dairy sustainability goals through a comprehensive and holistic approach and taking into consideration the entire operation as the active unit mitigating environmental impact is the ultimate way to ensure all initiatives fulfill the true definition of sustainability.