10. International >
10.1 International Sustainable Agriculture
Caring Dairy
In 2003, Ben & Jerry’s launched “Caring Dairy,” a collaborative effort between Unilever’s Sustainable Agriculture Initiative, our milk supplier, local farmers and Wageningen University. The project works directly with farmers to develop assessment tools and offer advisory support for continuous improvements in the environmental, social and economic outcomes of their dairy operations.
The initial phase of the project included the development of 
eleven metrics for sustainable dairy farming: soil fertility and health, soil loss, nutrients, pest management, biodiversity, farm economics/value chain, energy, water, social/human factors, impact on local economy and animal welfare. These metrics were combined by researchers at Wageningen University to create an assessment tool for sustainable practices. Eleven farmers participated in this phase of the project, which was completed in 2005.
In 2005, Caring Dairy also moved from theory to practice, as participating farmers used baseline results from the newly-completed assessment tool to develop short- and long-range improvement strategies 
for their farms. Going forward, these farmers will continue to use the assessment tool to measure their progress towards sustainable practices and revise their improvement plans in an iterative process over three or four years.
We made the decision in 2005 to create a mechanism and a formula to compensate participating farmers for their significant and ongoing time investment in Caring Dairy. It is also our belief that participating farmers will reap economic benefits as they move towards more sustainable practices.
We’re pleased that the impact of Caring Dairy is rippling outward from our initial group of participating farmers. We are actively sharing outcomes from Caring Dairy in the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platform (SAI) Working Group on Dairy, a food sector initiative with over twenty global food companies.
The Caring Dairy program received the endorsement of the Netherlands Society for Nature and Environment (Natuur & Milieu) this year. We’re also pleased to say that in 2005, the Dutch media reported favorably and frequently on the progress of Caring Dairy, helping to raise awareness around the significance of sustainable dairy practices.