Andrew Bernzott

Wisconsin Dairy Farmer has just received a letter with new regulations that must be followed or farmers can no longer sell their milk The new requirements are to meet climate net-zero ESG goals “Letter in the mail from their milk processing plant that states that they are updating their sustainable agriculture policy — and I already got a phone call from the people that are collecting the information that is required for your dairy farm. It starts out by saying that we understand that this might feel like another requirement, but it's not because it's an industry-led effort to recognize and measure the sustainable practices you're already doing every day. Your participation helps shape the future of dairy farming in ensures your voice is part of the solution. So I laugh at this because it is voluntary if you want to sell your milk because if you don't participate in this, the milk processing plant will not be able to take your milk because the people that are above them, the actual sellers like Nestle and Danone and all the other big food giants will not allow the milk processing plant, to take your milk. Now it feels like blackmail, but according to the definition of blackmail, it is not blackmail. But if you don't participate, you can't sell your milk” “hey need to know herd data, nutrition data, energy data, in terms of total terms of natural gas, total gallons of diesel. Now mind you, this is for a whole year. Total gallons of propane, total gallons of biodiesel, and total kilowatts of electricity for 12 months. Yep, voluntary, totally….” The request focuses on annual farm-level data for a full year to calculate metrics like carbon footprint, energy efficiency, and overall sustainability performance. Common categories include: • Herd data: Herd size, milk production (e.g., total pounds or cwt of milk), number of cows, possibly reproduction or health metrics to estimate feed efficiency and enteric methane. • Nutrition/feed data: Ration details, feed ingredients, intake amounts—to assess nutrient use efficiency and emissions from feed production/digestion. • Energy data (as you noted): • Total natural gas usage (e.g., for heating or drying). • Total gallons of diesel (e.g., for tractors, equipment). • Total gallons of propane. • Total gallons of biodiesel (if used). • Total kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity for 12 months (e.g., milking, cooling, ventilation, lighting). These inputs feed into tools that estimate GHG emissions This is an industry-led effort through programs like the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy’s Net Zero Initiative This is how they shut down small farmers