Dairy Farmers of America secure $45 mln in USDA funding

The funding will be used for a low-carbon dairy pilot project
calendar icon 23 September 2022
clock icon 2 minute read
USDA

Dairy Farmers of America (DFA), a national dairy cooperative with more than 11,500 family farmers, has been selected to receive up to $45 million from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to scale methane emissions reductions and increase soil carbon sequestration on US dairy farms as well as develop and market climate-smart, low-carbon dairy products, according to a DFA press release.

The grant was one of 70 announced on September 14, 2022, through the US Department of Agriculture's Partnership for Climate Smart Commodities program, which awarded $2.8 billion in funding to pilot projects that will help build and expand opportunities for consumers to purchase food grown or produced in a climate-friendly way.

"We're thrilled to receive a Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities grant from USDA and appreciate their support for accelerating adoption of innovative, sustainable agricultural practices on our member farms as well as developing and marketing low-carbon dairy products to meet growing consumer demand," said Kevin O'Donnell, senior vice president of sustainability at Dairy Farmers of America (DFA).

"Given eco-efficiency gains and other leadership to date, we know that dairy is part of the solution to climate change. These funds will allow DFA to build on this foundation, using our Cooperative business model to ensure benefits are captured at our member farms," he added. "This will allow us an opportunity to establish a more circular economy where we can increase crop resilience in dairy production, innovate more widespread climate and related product solutions faster, and better position us to continue providing sustainable nutrition to families around the world."

Partners joining DFA in this project include Dairy One Cooperative, Inc., MyFarm, LLC, Dairy Nutrition Management and Consulting, LLC, Nestlé, Mars, Unilever, Barry Callebaut, Dairy Management Inc., US Dairy Export Council, National Milk Producers Federation, Global Dairy Platform, Innovation Center for US Dairy, CoBank and AGPROfessionals.

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