What Is Sustainable Agriculture?

When farms are operated in balance with the earth's natural systems such as air, water, energy and nutrients, nature's principles are applied to sustain a farm's natural resources. Sustainable dairy farming strives to protect and enhance the natural environment, animal welfare, and local communities, while simultaneously striving for profitability and providing a high quality of life for farmers and their families.

The Vermont Dairy Farm Sustainability Project:

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. And dairy farming depends in part on crop cultivation methods using nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus, which in excess amounts can have an adverse environmental impact on nearby lakes and streams. Our awareness of the issue and our shared responsibility for environmental stewardship spurred our involvement in a unique project to help Vermont dairy farmers find sustainable solutions for reducing nitrogen and phosphorus run-off from their farms.

Launched in 2000, the Vermont Dairy Farm Sustainability Project was a collaborative effort involving Ben & Jerry's staff, area farmers, farm suppliers, milk processors, university extension services and dairy product manufacturers, all focused on improving nutrient management methods to safeguard water quality.

The three-year study demonstrated that farmers could reduce nutrient levels without decreasing crop size. It also demonstrated how improved water quality and cost savings resulting from reductions in nutrient levels would be beneficial for the environment as well as the farmers' bottom line.

The Dairy Stewardship Alliance:

In 2003 we joined forces with the University of Vermont's Center for Sustainable Agriculture and the St. Albans Coop (our dairy supplier) to launch The Dairy Stewardship Alliance Project .

The Project's goals:

1) to provide an on-farm self-assessment tool designed to enable farmers to more efficiently assess the environmental impact of their farm operations ; 2) to provide information about sustainable dairy farming practices; and 3) to provide a foundation for further development of programs that promote sustainability in agriculture.

As a first step, 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.

Read their research thesis in full:

Sustainable Agriculture: Development of an On-Farm Assessment Tool

The project was officially launched in 2004 with a group of farmer-members of the St. Albans Coop; they volunteered to complete the assessment tool, which involved answering questions for several assessment modules and submitting the results 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, farmers performed follow up assessments to measure improvement. The project is scheduled to continue in 2005 with a new group of farmer-participants.

Read the 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 - Making happy cows, happy farmers, & a happy planet.... Happen

Launched in Europe in 2003, the Caring Dairy program is a collaborative effort between Ben & Jerry's, area dairy farmers, dairy supplier Hoogwegt Milk, and specialists from Wegeningen University, with advisory support from nongovernmental organizations World Wildlife Fund and the Netherlands Society for Nature.   The program focuses on working directly with farmers, developing user-friendly guidelines and assessment tools, and offering advisory support to help farmers make continuous improvements in managing the environmental, social and economic impacts of their dairy operations.

The goal of caring dairy is to help individual farmers conduct a performance assessment, which measures a farm's level of sustainability against a comprehensive set of 11 key criteria-for "sustainability indicators" for dairy farming.   Results from baseline measurements are then used to help farmers develop and implement individual improvement plans, and violate results to make any necessary adjustments, in an iterated process of

three to four years.   For more information about international sustainable agriculture, visit the SAI Platform at www.saiplatform.org

For more information about sustainable agriculture:

What is Sustainable Agriculture?   Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (S.A.R.E.)

Sustainable Agriculture: Definitions and Terms   USDA National Agricultural Library Publications