Edge Climate-Smart partners review year-one progress and establish goals for the future

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 5, 2024

Contact: Laura Hensley
Director of communications
(517) 652-4524 | lhensley@voiceofmilk.com

Edge Climate-Smart partners review year-one progress and establish goals for the future

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Partners, collaborators and contractors involved in the Edge Climate-Smart project met in Green Bay on July 17 to share success stories, project updates and begin visioning for the future. The day-long meeting provided an opportunity for cross-sharing of information to strengthen the overall program. 

“It was energizing to have everyone together in one place to talk about our successes to date, but more importantly, to continue planning for the future,” Lauren Brey, Director of Strategic Partnerships and Sustainability, said. “We are fortunate to have leaders from different areas participating in our program. We have farmers, educators, engineers, data analysts and representatives from dairy processors and consumer packaged goods companies. This mix of experts is a key to our success so far.” 

Farmers for Sustainable Food team members shared how their team developed a customized approach for working directly with farmers for data collection and reporting based on their eight years of developing and managing sustainability projects and supporting farmer-led watershed conservation groups. They discussed the process of farmer sign-ups, preliminary project findings and how they overcome challenges by remaining flexible as they build out the program.   

“Our year-one progress has exceeded our expectations,” Jamie Fisher, FSF Senior Project Manager, said. “We have farmers representing over 37,000 acres and 23,000 cows in the program. We are now accepting year two enrollments and expect to continue increasing farmer involvement quickly.” 

Program contractor EcoEngineers shared a thought-provoking presentation on the possibilities for data capture and transparency as the program evolves. Shashi Menon, Chief Executive Officer, and Laith Amin, VP of Growth and Strategic Development, reviewed the framework for a new guidebook they are building to help participants more fully understand the concepts incorporated in the program, such as carbon markets, drivers of decarbonization and supply chain data management. The team hopes to have the guidebook ready to launch early in 2025.  

“It is such an exciting time for all of us partnering in this project to begin seeing the preliminary results from the on-farm efforts and the engaging conversations with everyone in the room,” Brey said. “The meeting energized us to keep moving forward with this important work.” 

Farmer enrollment for year two of the project is now open. Those interested in learning more can visit https://farmersforsustainablefood.com/climate-smart/.  

Images:

Lauren Brey photo

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About Edge:

Edge Dairy Farmer Cooperative provides dairy farmers throughout the Midwest with a powerful voice — the voice of milk — in Congress, with customers and within their communities. Edge, based in Green Bay, Wis., is one of the top cooperatives in the country based on milk volume. Member farms are located in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin. For more information, visit www.voiceofmilk.com.