Farmers are facing labor shortages, rising costs, unpredictable market pressures and shifting sustainability asks. At the same time, processors need to deliver high-quality products and are being asked to report verified sustainability numbers, often without consistent guidance or tools. Both farmers and processors are left with confusion, frustration and missed opportunities all around.
That’s the problem EmPower+ was built to address.
During a breakout session at Dairy Strong, moderator Jen Block, director of value chain partnerships at Edge Dairy Farmer Cooperative, led a discussion on the unpredictable sustainability landscape the agriculture sector faces today. She was joined by panelists from across the dairy value chain to explore the EmPower+ program's offerings in this area.
“The EmPower+ program starts with on-farm data that helps farmers understand their whole farm footprint, model improvements and make decisions that are good for business,” Block said. “It puts farmers back in the driver’s seat and aligns the dairy value chain around solutions that sustain farmer livelihoods.”
The EmPower+ program offers data collection services, that build on existing tools like Farm ES, and on-farm scenario planning to provide farmers with the tools and resources needed to make sustainable improvements.
“We have eight staff members who are Farm ES trained, and in the last six years, we’ve collected over 500 farm data collections,” said Jamie Fisher, Farmers for Sustainable Food managing director. “Most recently in 2025, we collected over 200 Farm ES data collections within a milkshed.”
It starts with establishing a baseline so farmers know where they’re at and can account for future improvements that they implement on their farm.
“Farmers want to know what their baseline is, or where their farm is now, and how they can do better in the future,” Drew Kessler, senior scientist at Houston Engineering, said. “That’s where scenario planning comes in, sitting down and talking with the farm about different options they can implement to improve their carbon intensity score.”
The program ensures data is third-party verified, ensuring its credibility.
“Not only is there a need for data to be collected and documented, but the industry is starting to expect that a third party will look at the data and verify that it was done correctly,” Kessler said. “That’s where verification comes in, and the EmPower+ program is positioned to be a partner in making sure trusted parties come to the table and get that verification procedure completed.”
Data alignment and credibility are important, but none of it matters if the solutions don’t work on the farm in a way that’s also profitable.
“I get excited when I hear about different ways farmers can increase productivity, and it makes complete sense to me that sustainability and profitability are so tied together,” Brenda Fressenden, Zoetis technical services lead, said.
“This program is directly informed by farmers, taking on-farm improvements into the value chain by accounting for the whole farm effects on greenhouse gases, water quality and other outcomes,” Jim Eckberg, director of science and innovation at Edge, said. “We’re not focusing on one singular thing, but rather the whole farm as a system.”