Dairy Industry Aims for GHG Neutrality

The agriculture and food industries are increasingly recognizing the inherent connection between a secure food supply chain, biodiversity, and a stable climate. The U.S. dairy industry is leading by example with an ambitious commitment to environmental sustainability.

The Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy set aggressive environmental stewardship goals—including achieving greenhouse gas (GHG) neutrality by 2050. To reach these goals, six national dairy organizations came together to form the U.S. Dairy Net Zero Initiative, an industry-wide collaboration to advance research and technology, on-farm pilots and new market development. .

“Dairy operations exist across the 50 U.S. states and are an integral part of the global food system,” says Alisha Staggs, director of The Nature Conservancy’s North America dairy program. “We are committed to working with the dairy industry and farmers around the nation to find and implement climate solutions while improving the resilience of the farms, the livelihoods of producers, and the lands and waters we all share.”

With Impact, Comes Opportunity

Growing crops for cow feed contributes to a dairy farm’s environmental footprint, yet most of an operation’s GHG emissions is methane from cow burps and methane and nitrous oxide from manure. Methane emissions—from a variety of sources including oil and gas, coal, agriculture and landfills—comprise one-fifth of all man-made GHG emissions, with enteric methane emissions accounting for 25% of cradle-to-grave GHG emissions by the U.S. dairy sector.

Thanks to improved farming practices, the carbon footprint of producing one gallon of milk shrank by 19% between 2007 and 2017, requiring 30% less water and 21% less land, according to a study published in the Journal of Animal Science. But there is still more work ahead.

In support of the Net Zero Initiative, TNC is teaming up with the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy and other partners to identify, research, and implement regenerative practices that benefit dairy farmers and nature. Here are some of the projects we are working on:

Dairy Feed in Focus

Launched in 2021 by the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy and The Nature Conservancy, the Dairy Feed in Focus (FIF) program is an industry-led effort to help improve feed production and feed efficiency on U.S. dairy farms, while reducing GHG emissions and contributing to improved water quality and soil health.

Farmers who enroll in the program are provided tailored technical support in choosing from a suite of best management practices, and then implementing those practices over three years. Practices include cover crops, reduced till and no till, crop rotation, nutrient stewardship, grazing and feed management, and edge of field practices. Farmers also receive incentive payments for practice implementation.

Theo Scholze, a dairy farmer in Wisconsin, was one of the first farmers enrolled.  “Just about every decision we make, there is a financial side to it,” he says. “But if I can make changes to help the overall global environment, I feel it is my responsibility to do that.”

Participating farmers, like Scholze, are helping to create scientifically verified examples of the best agronomic and farm management practices that will serve as models for practice implementation on dairy farms of all sizes through the U.S. and beyond. Listen to a podcast about the Feed in Focus project.

Innovative Feed Management

The Nature Conservancy (TNC)—in partnership with the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy and IFEEDER—led a three-year, USDA-funded initiative to explore innovative feed management strategies that reduce enteric methane emissions in dairy cows.

Over the past few decades, improved feeding and other management practices have made U.S. dairy herds more efficient, thereby reducing pressure on natural resources and lowering greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per unit of milk produced. However, feed management practices are still not widely adopted to deliver broader benefits like better animal performance, cleaner water, improved air quality and reduced emissions.

To address barriers to adoption, this collaborative project worked with five dairy farms in Michigan and Wisconsin to gather valuable insights through on-farm trials, expert surveys and stakeholder engagement. The goal: identify clear, scalable pathways for implementing feed management solutions across the dairy industry that benefit both the environment and farm operations.

“Feed rations and feed additives can significantly impact the carbon footprint associated with dairy, livestock and poultry production, and the feed industry is integral to developing and supporting these strategies for reduced GHG emissions on farms,” said Lara Moody, executive director of IFEEDER.

To support participation, the project provided direct financial incentives to farmers, covering the costs of implementation and encouraging broader adoption. 

Dive deeper into the project methodology, findings and insights by downloading the full report and a short summary of findings.