Elevating dairy’s voice

Keeping farmers on speed dial is essentially what the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance (USFRA) is doing to ensure the food industry is up to speed on new product claims, procurement and sourcing decisions through its Sustainability Officers Council.

One of those farmers is Tom Crave of Crave Brothers Farm, a dairy and cheese plant in Waterloo, Wis. Tom, a member of the DBA board of directors, was selected to represent the dairy community. Four other farmers on the council from around the country represent other types of agriculture. 

Allison Garriga, USFRA’s vice president of marketing and strategy, explains the council approach this way: “Now more than ever, there is a need and desire for farmer/rancher sustainability officers with a background in all aspects of agriculture. Marketing claims continue to misguide consumers as brands strive for a competitive edge that will help increase their market share. Through these important discussions, we aim to inform food companies about modern agricultural practices, helping guide their marketing and sourcing decisions, in addition to enhancing trust in the farmer/rancher.”

USFRA said Tom brings a wealth of knowledge not only from the dairy side of his family business, but also from his background in cheese production for retail. The Craves’ farming practices are innovative and offer the perfect sustainability story.

For example, his farm has an anaerobic digester that converts manure into electricity and reduces methane.

USFRA’s strategy started to take shape two years ago when Dannon announced its sustainability pledge to eliminate the use of GMOs fed to dairy cows that supply milk for its yogurt products. This move was made without consulting farmers and ranchers.

USFRA and other top farming organizations joined together in urging food companies to recognize that their sustainability goals, intended to conserve natural resources, cannot be achieved without the use of modern agricultural practices, such as GMOs, despite any misleading assertions to the contrary. 

This effort kicked off USFRA’s Straight Talk on sustainability food company outreach and led to the creation of the Sustainability Officers Program to ensure that the voice of farmers and ranchers is present in these important conversations.

The food companies are asking USFRA more questions about data. They want to better understand modern farming practices, but they also want to back up their knowledge with measurable data coming straight from farmers and ranchers. The primary focus of food companies (and customers) at this point seems to be sustainability, and the data would help them tell that story.

For the program, each officer will be involved in targeted, specific training and meetings. The officers traveled to St. Louis last month for USFRA’s training with leaders in the sustainability space. Topics included:

• Sustainability initiatives by major commodities (dairy, pork, beef, corn, soy, poultry)
• The current food/ag sustainability landscape
• Assessment of current on-farm sustainability practices
• Field to Market program overview

The officers have started one-on-one conversations with various food companies and groups in person and on the phone: 

• Environmental Defense Fund
• National Grocers Association
• Panera Bread
• PepsiCo
• Perdue Farms
• Walmart 

They will also attend the Sustainability and Food Retailer conferences, serve on Food Dialogues and participate in panel discussions about modern farm technology. They will attend the Sustainability Consortium, National Restaurant Association Show and Sustainable Brands. Additonally, the officers will interview with the mainstream media about this effort and sustainability advancements in agriculture.

Tom is setting a great example of how our members can get involved in efforts to connect with customers and have an influence on food companies that make the all-important decisions.

Learn more about USFRA’s program at fooddialogues.com/sustainability-officers