6. Environment >
6.1 Sustainable Agriculture
Towards Sustainable Agriculture
When you think about it, Ben & Jerry’s simply would not be Ben & Jerry’s if it weren’t for the family farms supplying the high quality dairy ingredients we depend on. That’s why we have long been committed to supporting sustainable practices in the dairy industry.
It’s our belief that sustainable agriculture is about making continuous improvements to existing farming practices in order to make them more environmentally sound, socially just and economically viable. Our commitment to this ideal has taken on various forms over the years. In 2005, we were involved in two active projects in this area, one in Vermont and one in the Netherlands, where Ben & Jerry’s ice cream is manufactured for the European market.
Dairy Stewardship Alliance
The Dairy Stewardship Alliance (DSA) has been a collaborative effort between Ben & Jerry’s, the University of Vermont’s Center for Sustainable Agriculture, the St. Albans Cooperative Creamery and the State of Vermont Agency of Agriculture since 2003. The goals of the DSA are to:
- Provide an on-farm self-assessment tool designed to enable farmers to more efficiently assess the social, environmental and economic aspects of their farm operations.
- Provide information to farmers about sustainable dairy farming practices.
- Provide a foundation for further development of programs that promote sustainable practices.
As a first step in 2003, we engaged four graduate students from the Corporate Environmental Management Program at the University of Michigan’s School of 
Natural Resources and Environment to develop a comprehensive set of sustainability indicators for dairy farming, along with a set of Educational Modules that farmers could use to self-assess their farm management practices and performance over time.
Click here to read their research thesis, Sustainable Agriculture: Development of an On-Farm Assessment Tool.
The Toolkit was officially launched in late 2004 with a group of farmer-members of the St. Albans Coop who provided feedback on the original toolkit as they completed the assessment modules. Their results were submitted for inclusion in a confidential database. Participating farmers received a personalized summary of the results for their farms, a comparison to other member farms’ results, and information on how to improve results. After making any recommended operational changes, the farmers will choose to implement specific changes and then complete a follow-up assessment to measure improvement.
In 2005, the Dairy Stewardship Alliance completed work with the initial group of St. Albans Coop farmers. With continued positive feedback for the project, the DSA submitted two grant applications that were successfully funded. One application was for a Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education grant through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and additional funding came from the Windham Foundation.
Read The Dairy Stewardship Alliance Toolkit in full: (downloadable PDF files)
- Introduction
- Animal Husbandry
- Biodiversity
- Community Health
- Energy
- Farm Financials
- Nutrient Management
- Organic
- Pest Management
- Soil Health
- Water Management
- Credits/Contacts
Caring Dairy Program
In Europe, we are involved in a similar partnership with the goal to advance sustainable practices in the dairy industry.