Tuesday 10 August 2021

US dairy farms to milk carbon savings through sustainable cooling programme

Babybel and The Laughing Cow owner Bel Brands USA and the Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) have announced a partnership to implement sustainable cooling practices designed to reduce emissions by cutting on-farm energy usage.

They have identified an opportunity to reduce the carbon footprint on dairy farms by integrating more energy efficient and economically-viable milk cooling systems in line with the Net Zero Initiative (NZI), an industry-wide effort led by the Innovation Centre for US Dairy.

The 12-month pilot programme will include natural well water cooling methods by a dairy farm in Iowa that supplies milk to Bel Brands, with Bel co-financing the cooling mechanism.

As a secondary benefit, the warm well water used to cool the milk will be fed to the cows at their preferred temperature.

The farm will work with DFA's sustainability team to capture data on the energy and economic savings of the sustainable milk cooling practices compared to high energy flash chillers, with the goal of replicating them on other US dairy farms in the future if proven successful.

Jean Michel Dos Remedios, Sourcing & Supplier Develompent Senior Director, Bel Brands USA said: “We are committed to nourishing communities while reducing the impact our products and processes have on the environment.

“Our partnership with Dairy Farmers of America exemplifies that commitment and gives us an opportunity to partner with dairy farmers to make the industry more sustainable.”
David Darr, Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy and Sustainability Officer, Dairy Farmers of America added: “For our farm families, animal care and environment stewardship are a way of life.

“We are proud to be part of a programme that is aligned with those values and helps further support our commitment to reduce our carbon footprint.”