A new tool from the Professional Dairy Producers’ “Your Farm, Your Footprint” measures a farm’s carbon footprint and provides a score. The program helps farmers like Wisconsin dairyman JJ Pagel establish a baseline to compare with other farmers in the state and across the nation.

JJ Pagel, owner of Pagel’s Ponderosa in Kewaunee County, Wis., is participating in PDP’s “Your Farm, Your Footprint” program — a first-of-its-kind, farmer-led sustainability initiative that empowers dairy producers to know and understand the environmental footprint of their farms. (PHOTOS COURTESY OF PDP)

Pagel enrolled his 8,000-acre “Pagel’s Ponderosa” farm with its 5,000 cows in the program. He has already learned valuable information about his farm’s carbon footprint.

With a manure digestor and other technology tools, Pagel discovered his carbon footprint is akin to taking 686 cars off the road per year, or sequestering 900 tons (48 dump truck loads) of carbon from the atmosphere.

This type of analogy helps him explain to others what a carbon score is and how much carbon we are taking out of the atmosphere.

Nuts and bolts of new dairy program

PDP unveiled its first-of-its-kind, producer-led sustainability initiative: “Your Farm, Your Footprint,” during its annual business conference.

Shelly Mayer, PDF executive director, says it is frustrating for dairy farmers to hear all the discussion from the food sector about how farmers should cut their carbon footprint and their emissions by 20% or 30% when they don’t even know what their baseline is.

Shelly Mayer, executive director of PDP, encourages dairy farmers to apply for the “Your Farm, Your Footprint” program at pdpw.org/your-farm-your-footprint.

“This initiative, ‘Your Farm, Your Footprint,’ gives you the opportunity to know what your numbers are, and to not only be a part of the discussion, but to drive the discussion,” Mayer says. “This is an easy way to know and understand your farm’s environmental impact.”

The program works directly with dairy farmers to help them use the information to position their dairies for the future. Mayer says participants will[MW1] :

Here’s why you should learn this

Why do dairy farmers need to reduce their farm’s carbon footprint? Mayer says farm-level strategies will help dairy farmers remain competitive in both domestic and export markets.

“We know that U.S. dairy producers are the most productive and sustainable in the world. But our global customers want proof of our commitment to environmental sustainability and continuous improvement,” Mayer says. “Retaining U.S. dairy’s strong position as a preferred global supplier requires measuring and reducing the environmental impact of producing dairy products.”

In addition to receiving their carbon scores and identifying methods to continually improve, participants in “Your Farm, Your Footprint” can share their findings and ideas in a producer peer group, where they can learn from one another.

More information about the program is available at pdpw.org/your-farm-your-footprint.