Applications are being accepted for college scholarships that are awarded by America’s dairy farmers and importers through the National Dairy Promotion and Research Board (NDB). Eleven scholarships worth $2,500 each will be awarded, as well as a $3,500 James H. Loper Jr. Memorial Scholarship to one outstanding recipient. NDB funds, in part, Dairy Management Inc. (DMI), which manages the national dairy checkoff program.
Undergraduate students in their sophomore through senior year for the 2021-2022 academic school year and majoring in one of the following fields are eligible: communications/public relations, journalism, marketing, business, economics, nutrition, food science and agriculture education.
Scholarships are awarded based on academic achievement, an interest in a career in a dairy-related discipline, and demonstrated leadership, initiative and integrity. Candidates must complete an application form, submit an official transcript of all college courses, and write a short statement describing their career aspirations, dairy-related activities and work experiences.
Completed applications must be received no later than May 7 at 11:59 p.m. CST. Questions about the program can be submitted to ndbscholarships@dairy.org
NMPF is now accepting applications for its National Dairy Leadership Scholarship Program for the 2021-2022 academic year. Each year, NMPF awards scholarships to outstanding graduate students (enrolled in Master’s or Ph.D. programs) who are actively pursuing dairy-related fields of research that are of immediate interest to NMPF member cooperatives and the US dairy industry at large.
Graduate students pursuing research of direct benefit to milk marketing cooperatives and dairy producers are encouraged to apply (applicants do not need to be members of NMPF to qualify). The top applicant will be awarded the Hintz Memorial Scholarship, created in 2005 in honor of the late Cass-Clay Creamery Board Chairman Murray Hintz who was instrumental in establishing NMPF’s scholarship program.
Recommended fields of study include but are not limited to Agriculture Communications and Journalism, Animal Health, Animal and/or Human Nutrition, Bovine Genetics, Dairy Products Processing, Dairy Science, Economics, Environmental Science, Food Science, Food Safety, Herd Management, and Marketing and Price Analysis.
Applications must be received no later than Friday, April 16, 2021. For an application or more information, please visit the NMPF website or email scholarship@nmpf.org.
United Dairy Families of California — Yesterday Secretary of Agriculture Karen Ross signed a Decision of Order to hold a referendum on the petition submitted by United Dairy Families of California (UDFC).
The petition is a producer-derived plan to sunset the Quota Implementation Plan (QIP) effective March 1, 2025 and to equalize Regional Quota Adjusters such that the quota premium in all counties equals $1.43/cwt.
The Secretary’s signature confirms the proposed decision from Judge Timothy Aspinwall stating that UDFC’s “petition must proceed to a producer referendum.”
According to information posted on the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) website, “the referendum voting period will be March 4, 2021 – June 1, 2021,” to ensure full participation among dairy producers.
The petition was born out of a multi-year effort led by UDFC, a producer-led organization seeking to unite the California dairy industry. The organization held over twenty meetings around the state and solicited input from hundreds of producers to determine a path forward for the QIP.
UDFC submitted over 300 signed petitions from dairy producers to CDFA, which initiated the referendum process.
United Dairy Families is pleased with the Secretary’s decision to affirm the recommendation, and looks forward to encouraging all California dairy producers to cast a ballot in the forthcoming referendum.
CDFA Secretary Karen Ross and Minister Rasmus Prehn of Denmark’s Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) focusing on dairy innovations and technologies addressing climate change. The signing event, which was held virtually, included agricultural stakeholders from California and Denmark, and featured a presentation from the Center for Policy Research on Energy and the Environment at Princeton University.
“In California, we have invested more than $264 million in Climate Smart Agricultural programs focusing on the dairy sector over the last five years,” said CDFA Secretary Karen Ross “This has resulted in more than 236 projects that will achieve a reduction in CO2 emissions of more than 23 million metric tons of CO2 equivalents over 10 years.”
“This partnership with Denmark on climate smart dairy collaboration will help to connect farmers, academia and government on the shared challenges related to methane emissions in the agricultural sector – providing the foundation for action and innovation in the future.”
This MOU continues CDFA’s international collaboration on climate smart agriculture activities. Over the last few months, the department has conducted webinars with Portugal (Lisbon and Tagus Valley) and South Africa (Western Cape). This adds to the ongoing work over the last five years which has included more than 10 webinars on climate smart agricultural issues with a variety of international partners.
In an unprecedented year, USDA staff and dairy producers across the country worked together to protect dairy operations for the 2021 production year under USDA’s risk management program options – the Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC), Dairy Revenue Protection (DRP), and Livestock Gross Margin for Dairy Cattle (LGM) programs. Recent enrollment data for these programs indicate that dairy operations are proactively managing their risk.
“In a year rife with challenges, our staff worked diligently to improve customer service and seamlessly deliver programs to assist agricultural producers,” said Bill Northey, USDA’s Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation. “Through patience and perseverance on both sides of the virtual counter, as well as added resources made available to producers and staff for operating in a pandemic, producers were able to timely participate in these programs.”
Dairy Margin Coverage
Administered by USDA’s Farm Service Agency, DMC offers protection to dairy producers when the difference between the all-milk price and the average feed price (the margin) falls below a certain dollar amount selected by the producer.
Nearly three-quarters of all U.S. dairy operations with established production history are enrolled in DMC for the 2021 program year. Compared with 2020 enrollment of 13,532 operations, participation for 2021 increased to cover nearly 18,500 operations nationwide – meaning an additional 4,900 dairy operations recognized the value of DMC to their bottom line.
This enrollment success is a testament to the value of DMC to dairy operations. DMC is a cashflow-friendly program that offers enrolled operations the option to select a $4.00 catastrophic level of coverage with no premium fee or elect to buy up coverage. The premium on buy-up coverage is based on margin triggers between $4.50 and $9.50 on 5 to 95% of established production history. For coverage at the maximum margin trigger of $9.50, producers pay $0.15 per hundredweight of established milk production history.
To date, DMC has paid out more than $500 million in program benefits to dairy operations enrolled in calendar years 2019 and 2020. Margin payments triggered seven months in 2019 and four months, to date, for the 2020 DMC program year.
Additional Protection for Dairy
Approximately 3,000 operations purchased additional protection under DRP, which covers 30% of the milk supply and has provided more than $400 million in payments to covered operations since 2019. DRP, now in its second year, has grown from 2,500 policies in 2019. Additionally, 200 producers purchased coverage through LGM. Both LGM and DRP are managed by USDA’s Risk Management Agency.
While DRP insures against unexpected declines in the quarterly revenue from milk sales, LGM provides protection against the loss of gross margin (market value of milk minus feed costs) on the milk produced from dairy cows.
More Information
Enrollment for 2022 coverage for DMC will take place in the fall of 2021. For more information about DMC and to use the online program decision tool, visit the farmers.gov DMC webpage, or contact your local USDA Service Center. To locate your local office, visit farmers.gov/service-center-locator.
All Federal crop insurance policies are available from Approved Insurance Providers (AIP). To learn more about DRP and LGM and other crop and livestock insurance products, contact your local AIP. A list of AIPs is available at all USDA service centers and on the RMA website at the Agent Locator Page.
All USDA Service Centers are open for business, including those that restrict in-person visits or require appointments. All Service Center visitors wishing to conduct business with FSA, Natural Resources Conservation Service, or any other Service Center agency should call ahead and schedule an appointment. Service Centers that are open for appointments will pre-screen visitors based on health concerns or recent travel, and visitors must adhere to social distancing guidelines. Visitors are also required to wear a face covering during their appointment. Our program delivery staff will continue to work with our producers by phone, email, and using online tools. More information on working with our Service Centers can be found at farmers.gov/coronavirus
USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer and lender.
Jeff Dahlberg, UCCE Specialist & Director of the UC Kearney Agricultural Research & Extension Center (KARE) in Parlier
UC Cooperative Extension specialist Jeff Dahlberg, also the director of the UC Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center (KARE) in Parlier, invoked his 35 years of sorghum expertise to increasing interest in growing the crop in California and to better understanding plants’ ability to tolerate drought. Dahlberg retires Jan. 8.
As a Peace Corps volunteer in Niger in the early 1980s, Dahlberg was intrigued by sorghum, a staple food being cultivated by the country’s vast population of subsistence farmers.
“I was impressed with the fact that sorghum was so drought tolerant,” Dahlberg said. “Nigerien farmers relied solely on rain for their sorghum and millet crops.”
Upon returning to the U.S., he earned a master’s degree at the University of Arizona and a Ph.D. at Texas A&M, where his research focused on sorghum. He worked with the USDA Agricultural Research Service in Puerto Rico for 7 years and then spent the next 10 years as research director with the National Sorghum Producers in Lubbock, Texas.
When Dahlberg took the helm of the 330-acre UC agricultural research center in 2010, he and colleagues at the UC West Side Research and Extension Center and at UC Davis began conducting sorghum forage variety trials. Sorghum wasn’t new to California. In the past, it had mainly been used for animal feed. But Dahlberg believed the crop’s adaptability – excellent for forage, biofuels and gluten-free human food – offered the grain a rosy future in the Golden State.
“With our research, we have provided California farmers who are thinking about growing sorghum access to locally generated, research-based information to help them make the decision,” Dahlberg said.
Jeff Dahlberg, center, with a delegation of Chinese sorghum scientists on Sept. 24, 2015, in a sorghum field at Kearney.
In 2015, Dahlberg and UC Berkeley specialist Peggy Lemaux launched a sweeping drought research project at KARE. The five-year study, funded with a $12.3 million grant from the Department of Energy, researched the genetics of drought tolerance in sorghum and how soil microbial communities interacted with sorghum roots to battle drought stress.
A journal article published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2018 presented the first detailed look at the role of drought in restructuring the root microbiome. The plant switches some genes on and some genes off when it detects water scarcity and access to water.
“That has implications for feeding the world, particularly considering the changing climate and weather patterns,” Dahlberg said.
In recent years, Dahlberg helped reestablish tea research at Kearney, initiated nearly 60 years ago in a study funded by Thomas J. Lipton, Inc. At the time, Lipton was seeking to grow tea for the instant tea market. When the Kearney tea research program was scrapped in 1981, a researcher had a handful of the best tea clones planted in the landscape around buildings at Kearney.
Those shrubs became the basis for a new tea research trial planted at Kearney in 2017 with UC Davis professor Jackie Gervay Hague to determine whether drought stress impacts the production of phenolics and tannins in the tea.
“We know we can grow good tea here and we can grow high tonnage,” Dahlberg said. “We want to determine if we can do that on a consistent basis and whether we can improve tea quality through irrigation management.”
In retirement, Dahlberg plans to relocate to Lake Ann, Mich., to be close to family. UC Cooperative Extension irrigation specialist Khaled Bali will serve as interim director of the UC Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center. — By Jeannette Warnert, UCANR
The California Beef Council (CBC) will invest over $1 million in 2021 in efforts to promote beef, provide consumer information, engage with foodservice and retail stakeholders, educate health and nutrition influencers, and provide educational and informational resources to beef producers. This 2021 work plan and budget were approved by the producer-led CBC board of directors during its annual meeting, held virtually December 15 and 16.
“California Beef Council decisions are driven by beef producers, and the cattlemen and women who are part of the organization carefully consider all strategies to determine the best way to invest our Checkoff dollars with the overall goal of driving beef demand,” said 2020 CBC Chair Jesse Larios. “Every year, the CBC reviews proposals brought forth from CBC staff and external organizations to determine how to distribute our funding in a way that best serves the long-term success of California’s beef industry.”
Programs planned for 2021 include four seasonal integrated marketing campaigns, which will combine broad marketing and advertising efforts with retail-level promotions and incentives for purchasing beef. In 2019, similar campaigns resulted in over 97 million cumulative impressions, with the results of 2020 campaigns still being analyzed. Also included in the 2021 work plan are numerous educational programs targeting California health and nutrition professionals, with the goal of providing science-based nutrition information about beef to this community of influencers.
Continued enhancement and roll-out of digital resources and experiences for retail and foodservice professionals will also take place in 2021, providing crucial beef education tools for these industries that are ideal for the virtual world. For producers, educational programs in Beef Quality Assurance certification, media spokesperson training and industry advocacy will also take place.
In addition to setting the stage for 2021, CBC staff also thoroughly reviewed the results and outcomes of programs funded in 2020, providing producer leadership with a clear picture of what was accomplished.
“This past year has certainly been challenging, and like other organizations, the CBC had to pivot and refocus its efforts in the wake of the pandemic,” noted Larios. “Yet despite some of the setbacks this year caused, we were able to successfully move forward with a variety of efforts that positively represented our cattle and beef community. I am proud of the work the CBC is able to accomplish every year, but especially in this year of disruption and uncertainty.”
During its annual meeting, the CBC board also appointed its 2021 leadership, with an executive committee comprised of producers representing every sector of California’s beef industry. Serving as chair and vice chair in the coming year are Tom Barcellos of Porterville, representing the dairy sector, and Cindy Tews of Fresno, representing the range sector. Jesse Larios, 2020 chair of the CBC representing the feeder sector, will continue in an ex-officio role.
To learn more about the CBC plans for 2021 and results of 2020, a recording of the staff presentation is available at www.CalBeef.org/beef-producers.
About the California Beef Council
The California Beef Council (CBC) was established in 1954 to serve as the promotion, research, and education arm of the California beef industry, and is mandated by the California Food and Agricultural Code. The CBC’s mission is to position the California beef industry for sustained beef demand growth through promotion, research and education. For more information, visit www.calbeef.org.
About the Beef Checkoff
The Beef Checkoff Program was established as part of the 1985 Farm Bill. The checkoff assesses $1 per head on the sale of live domestic and imported cattle, in addition to a comparable assessment on imported beef and beef products. States may retain up to 50 cents on the dollar and forward the other 50 cents per head to the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board, which administers the national checkoff program, subject to USDA approval.
Dairy Cares — 2020 has been a historic year, and the only thing for certain in 2021 is more change. President-elect Joe Biden will reenter the U.S. into the Paris Climate Agreement, renewing national commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and shift toward a clean energy economy. The new federal administration plans to address climate change, relying heavily on executive action through agencies, including the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). This will be a monumental effort, on top of the countless far-reaching challenges the pandemic has created. Tom Vilsack, Biden’s nominee for USDA Secretary, is fully aware of the role dairy farms play in a sustainable and nutritious food system, their track record of reducing GHGs, and what it will take to achieve further reductions.
Vilsack, whose nomination is still subject to Senate confirmation, has spent the past four years serving as the president and CEO of the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC). He has been a part of the conversation as the national dairy sector has been voluntarily developing goals and working strategically to reduce its climate impact. At a time when dairy foods are especially critical as a source of affordable nutrition, it is reassuring that Vilsack understands the great challenges and opportunities facing the nation’s dairy farmers.
“With an estimated one in six Americans and a quarter of U.S. children facing a hunger crisis, farmers reeling, and rural communities struggling to weather the pain and economic fallout of the pandemic, Vilsack will bring the experience and bold thinking needed to deliver immediate relief to farmers, ranchers, producers and families all across the country,” Biden said in a news release announcing the nomination.
While food availability is paramount, there is also no doubt that the dairy sector will continue to shrink its climate footprint. Vilsack recognizes that American dairy farmers have already made tremendous achievements—reducing the carbon footprint of a gallon of milk by 19 percent since 2007 (63 percent since 1944). “I think it’s important to set the stage by indicating that the dairy industry has always been committed to sustainability,” Vilsack said during a panel discussion at the virtual California Dairy Sustainability Summit this past November. He then described the national dairy industry’s ambitious net zero initiative, an industry-wide goal to achieve carbon neutral or better (net zero climate impact) by 2050. Vilsack noted that resources, including research and incentives, will be needed to make it affordable for dairy farms of all sizes to implement climate-smart practices and technologies. “The federal government can be a strong partner in this [national dairy industry’s net zero initiative] by providing resources, providing incentives, and providing research dollars,” Vilsack said.
California is already demonstrating that incentive-based programs are highly effective in reducing GHGs, particularly methane, from the dairy sector. The state’s two dairy manure methane reduction programs—the Dairy Digester Research and Development Program and the Alternative Manure Management Program—are collectively estimated to reduce 2.3 million metric tons of GHGs (MTCO2e) per year, more than any other individual program in the state’s climate investment portfolio. The reductions are being achieved by installing technologies and adopting new manure management practices, including anaerobic digesters, solid separators, and vacuum trucks. The state has invested a total of $265 million to date, with more than $422 million being provided in matching private funds.
While California’s dairy methane reduction programs have been achieving much success, additional opportunities for even greater reductions can be created through research and development. One example is the area of enteric emissions, or the release of methane directly from the digestive systems of cattle. A number of feed additives are demonstrating promise to reduce enteric methane emissions from ruminant animals by 30 percent or more. As these products are further verified and eventually become commercially available, it will be critically important to ensure that these feed additives are economically viable for farmers and ranchers to incorporate into daily feed rations.
Another tremendous opportunity would be to increase the use of manure nutrients as natural soil amendments—something Biden mentioned during an October town hall. California’s dairy community is currently working with researchers, non-governmental organizations, and technology providers to explore expanding the use of manure nutrients in ways that help sequester carbon. California dairy farmers have long been applying manure to build soils and fertilize their forage and grain crops, which are fed to cows. Now, dairy farmers are looking for new ideas to create a circular fertilizer economy, in which manure-based soil amendments can be used to grow even more crops. Much more research is needed to fully explore how a promising list of technologies and strategies could potentially serve the needs of dairies and other farms. This area of research and development represents a significant opportunity for public-private partnerships.
The change in federal leadership is expected to promote the public-private partnerships needed to advance the sustainability of the dairy sector. From his time at USDEC, Vilsack has seen firsthand the global demand and implications of sustainable farming practices. The market is already demanding that dairy farm and food production practices become more climate friendly, the dairy sector has already pledged its bold commitment to do so, and California has created a model to build upon.
As the U.S. embarks upon renewed efforts to fight climate change, it is imperative that initiatives remain financially feasible for family farms. That will not only ensure the viability of our culturally-rich dairy farm legacy, but also a continued, reliable supply of delicious, nutritious milk and dairy foods for the American people.
The federal government can follow California’s lead—taking bold steps to nourish families while fighting climate change. Center, Tom Vilsack spoke on a panel with national dairy industry leaders during the virtual California Dairy Sustainability Summit on November 6, 2020.
During the week of January 4, 2021, the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board (Regional Water Board) will send letters to dairies and other bovine operations, and many other water quality permit holders. The letters will be titled as Notices to Comply.
These letters notify permit holders that they must comply with a new regulation known as the Salt Control Program. Parts of the new regulation went into effect in January of 2020 and the remaining portion went into effect in November of 2020. Its primary aim is to reduce the impacts of salt accumulation in Central Valley groundwater.
“The good news for Central Valley dairies is that they are already in compliance with the Salt Control Program, if they are members of the Central Valley Dairy Representative Monitoring Program (CVDRMP),” said CVDRMP Chairman Justin Gioletti, a Turlock area dairy farmer.
“The Regional Water Board is required to notify water quality permit holders about this regulation, which is why Central Valley dairies and other cattle operations will receive the letter in early January,” said J.P. Cativiela, CVDRMP Administrator. “However, if those operations are already CVDRMP members, the notice is essentially a formality. Recipients who read the letter carefully will learn that if they are CVDRMP members, they do not need to respond to the notice. These CVDRMP members are already in compliance.”
As a monitoring coalition representing about 1,250 dairies and bovine operations, CVDRMP negotiated – prior to the official notice – an agreement that enrolls all its members in an alternative compliance option, known as “Pathway B.”
For dairies, cost for enrolling in the Salt Control Program will be $72 for 2021, to be collected as part of their annual CVDRMP fees. However, the Salt Control Program alone will not result in a fee increase for CVDRMP member dairies, because the dairy farmer-led CVDRMP Board of Directors reduced costs in other parts of the monitoring program to compensate.
“Through efficiencies, we have been able to reduce our monitoring costs enough to compensate for the additional costs of the Salt Control Program,” said Rodney Kamper, CVDRMP Treasurer and a Riverdale dairy farmer. “That means for our dairy members, the total annual cost for both groundwater monitoring and Salt Control Program compliance will be $972, the same amount we have charged for just groundwater monitoring since the start of the program in 2011.”
However, there will be a cost increase for bovine operations who are CVDRMP members and regulated under the Regional Water Board’s “Bovine Order.” For those, cost of the Salt Control Program will be added to their 2021 fee invoices and will range from $160 to $320 per year depending on herd size. Enrollment will be automatic for all members.
Kamper cautioned that this does not include the new costs associated with another new regulation recently adopted by the Regional Water Board, known as the Nitrate Control Program. Costs of the Nitrate Control Program are still being determined and will initially involve many CVDRMP members in so called “Priority 1” areas such as the Turlock, Modesto, Chowchilla, Kings, Kaweah, and Tule groundwater basins.
“The Salt Control Program should not be confused with the more expensive Nitrate Control Program. More information will be coming to CVDRMP members in January and February about new fee schedules related to the Nitrate Control Program,” Kamper said. “For now, we want to assure our members that they do not need to worry about, or respond to, the Salt Control Program letters they receive in January.”
CVDRMP members (or non-member dairies and bovine operations who want more information about how to comply) are welcome to contact CVDRMP at 916-594-9450 or CVDRMP@gmail.com with any questions they may have or to check the status of their facility’s membership in the program.
About the Central Valley Dairy Representative Monitoring Program
The Central Valley Dairy Representative Monitoring Program is a not-for-profit group of more than 1,000 Central Valley dairies, organized and overseen by directors elected from its membership. The group’s purpose is to reduce regulatory costs for members by administering a representative program for dairies. Membership in this voluntary program fully substitutes for individual monitoring requirements currently in regulation .
The newly released 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans reaffirms the importance of consuming dairy daily as part of healthy dietary patterns for positive health outcomes.
Daily inclusion of low-fat and fat-free dairy foods is recommended in all three DGA healthy dietary patterns: 3 servings in Healthy U.S. and Healthy Vegetarian, and 2 to 2.5 servings in Healthy Mediterranean. Following these healthy dietary patterns is associated with reduced risk of chronic diseases like cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.
“Dairy foods such as milk, cheese and yogurt offer essential nutrients that help nourish people throughout life,” said National Dairy Council President Jean Ragalie-Carr, RDN, LDN, FAND. “At a time when affordable nutrition has never been more important to our nation, dairy foods, including lactose-free varieties, are a highly nutritious and accessible option that can help fill important nutrient gaps and support overall well-being. We’re pleased to see dairy consumption recommended for its contributions to healthy dietary patterns based on the scientific evidence.”
National Dairy Council President Jean Ragalie-Carr, RDN, LDN, FAND
The DGA are updated every five years by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), who base their recommendations on a sound body of peer-reviewed science.
NDC participated in the public process around the DGA, submitting written comments and oral testimony to USDA and HHS that summarized scientific evidence on the role of dairy foods in healthy dietary patterns. Dairy farmers and importers fund hundreds of research studies on topics such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, whole milk dairy foods, inflammation, protein, digestive health, sustainable food systems, child nutrition and more as part of their commitment to supporting good nutrition for Americans.
The Guidelines are an essential resource in developing federal food and nutrition programs, such as the school meals programs and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).
For the first time, the DGA recommendations for the birth-to-23-month time period are included and yogurt and cheese were recognized as complementary feeding options for infants starting as early as 6 months. Dairy foods (whole milk, reduced-fat cheese and reduced-fat plain yogurt) were included in recommendations for toddlers 12-23 months.
Consistent evidence demonstrates that a healthy dietary pattern, which includes low-fat and fat-free dairy foods, is associated with beneficial outcomes for all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease, overweight and obesity, type 2 diabetes, bone health, and certain types of cancer (breast and colorectal).
Other key aspects of the DGA for dairy include:
The nutrients of concern for Americans continue to be calcium, vitamin D, potassium and fiber; dairy foods are important sources of calcium, vitamin D and potassium in the U.S. diet and can help close these nutrient gaps.
Linking dairy foods to bone health in both adolescents and adults, showing dairy’s important nutritional support for accrual of bone mass and promotion of bone health outcomes, including prevention of the onset of osteoporosis.
The saturated fat recommendation remains at no more than 10% of total calories.
While these Guidelines don’t include recommendations for sustainable food systems, the U.S. dairy community has commitments in place to advance environmental sustainability. Earlier this year, the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy announced the 2050 Environmental Stewardship Goals which include achieving carbon neutrality or better, optimizing water usage and improving water quality.
“All foods come with an environmental footprint and all sectors of food production can work to do better, including dairy,” said Krysta Harden, executive vice president of Global Environmental Strategy for Dairy Management Inc. “Today, U.S. dairy contributes about 2 percent of greenhouse gas emissions and collectively, from farm to retail, we are committed to being an environmental solution and leaving a positive footprint for future generations.”
