Sure, carbon markets are volatile. Sure, the market is theoretically best suited for a large dairy farm, even those providing manure into a community digester. But that didn’t stop Michael Crinion of Ash Grove Dairy.

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.   

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.

Progressive Dairy Editor Jenn Coyne spoke with Jamie Leifker, president of Truterra, to learn more about industry efforts to support sustainable dairy farming practices and reach goals within the dairy supply chain. 

To dairy farmers, carbon credits, or offsets, are best known in association with anaerobic digestion. These projects require big farms with significant amounts of manure and plenty of capital, resulting in credits sold to buyers outside of the dairy or even the food and beverage industries.