2011 U.S. Dairy Sustainability Report - Innovation Center for US Dairy

WELCOME ENVIRONMENTAL SOCIAL ECONOMIC
ABOUT
To Our Stakeholders
We are pleased to introduce the 2011 U.S. Dairy Sustainability Report. We
are proud of the accomplishments the industry has achieved since joining
together in 2007 to address sustainability challenges and opportunities for
U.S. dairy pre-competitively.
As we write this letter, our planet just welcomed its seven-billionth inhabitant.
In the time it takes to read this report, the population will have increased
by more than 8,000. 1 Over the next 20 years, we must dramatically increase
our food production — by at least 70 percent by some estimates — in order to
address global needs.
Much of the population growth is occurring in emerging economies with
expanding middle classes that require wholesome and nutritious food
products to satisfy both basic nutritional needs and discretionary tastes.
Feeding the world efficiently and responsibly, while conserving the planet’s
natural resources, will be a key sustainability challenge for dairy and other
food and agriculture sectors. Additional challenges will include the logistical
and policy aspects of trade, transportation, food safety and traceability on a
worldwide scale. The dairy industry’s ongoing advances in productivity will
contribute to producing nutritious food for future generations.
Today, like many industries, we face resource challenges, such as rising
energy costs, land availability, and water quality and availability, and other
environmental impacts. In addition, society demands responsibly produced
dairy foods with considerations of health, nutrition, food security, workforce
safety and animal care — all of which are discussed in this report. Addressing
these challenges amidst a global economic recession motivates us to identify
new opportunities and innovative solutions that can create business value to
strengthen our industry and the U.S. economy.
Before the industry gathered at the U.S. Dairy Sustainability Summit in
2008, we saw many individual organizations working on their own to develop
sustainability practices and conservation measures. Today, thanks to the
efforts of the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy and the industry’s shared
sustainability commitment, roadmap, projects and research, we see a
tremendous amount of collaboration and cross-pollination of best practices
and knowledge.
Looking back on 2011, we made real progress through our sustainability
efforts. The year marked three years of work spent laying the necessary
groundwork — research, development, demonstration and deployment — to
meet our 2020 greenhouse gas reduction goals. Research findings on dairy’s
impacts fueled the development of new tools that help put science into the
hands of decision makers.
With Innovation Center-led environmental projects well under way in 2011,
we launched a new industrywide initiative to establish the Sustainability
Measurement and Reporting Framework for U.S. Dairy, which will create
a common approach to measure and report on environmental, social and
economic aspects of the industry.
We are proudest of our efforts to mobilize and engage dairy stakeholders.
In 2011, we developed key strategic partnerships with governmental and
nongovernmental organizations, and we engaged more than 830 stakeholders
who invested approximately 6,700 working days, valued at over $6.2 million,
to support sustainability efforts throughout the year.
It is obvious from our efforts over the years that dairy has made a unique
commitment. The plain fact is that sustainability and conservation make good
business sense. Consumers will continue to demand that we not only produce
high-quality products at an affordable price, but that we produce those
products in a way that protects our natural resources and the communities
and people we touch.
We hope readers of this report will recognize the breadth of our activities
and initiatives, and come away with their own conclusion that the U.S. dairy
industry has achieved traction. We are prepared and committed to build on the
momentum we have established and look forward to hearing your thoughts
about our progress.
Tom Gallagher
CEO, Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy
and Dairy Management Inc.
Larry Jensen
Chair, Innovation Center Board of Directors
and President, Leprino Foods Company
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