In this issue...

The next members meeting dates are confirmed, the Chilean Dairy Sector launches its sustainability plan to 2021, we report on a Sequestration Seminar with Arla Foods and the DSF Indicator development process continues. Plus much more...

In October 2017 the DSF launched five further indicators on which DSF Implementing members will be reporting against, to allow the Framework to report the sector’s aggregated continuous improvement.

Draft reporting guidelines have been developed and are currently out for consultation and development with the DSF membership through January and February. Once this phase has been completed, the guidelines revised and consensus within the sector achieved, there will be a further consultation with interested external stakeholders.

Watch this space if you are an interested stakeholder and would like to review and comment on our proposed Reporting Guidelines.  If you would like us to include you in the consultation, why not let us have your contact details and we will ensure that you receive the documents at the appropriate time.  To provide your details, please contact the DSF Secretariat with your name, company and email address.

Final four indicator Metrics – the process

The next step is to move forward with identifying candidate indicators for the final four 2018/19 Global Criteria: Waste, Market Development, Rural Economies, and Product Safety and Quality. The process for developing these will be similar to the process used for the five 2017 indicator metrics development. We will work with members to identify potential indicators, perform a materiality assessment, and propose a set of top candidates for consideration and discussion by member organizations. This process will begin in mid-February.

The membership asked and we have listened! There will be TWO members meetings in 2018, the first confirmed as 14-15 May 2018 in Chicago, USA.

Starting on Monday 14^th May and running until lunchtime on Tuesday 15^th May, this meeting will be another excellent opportunity to meet fellow members and share experiences and challenges.

We are pleased to have the support and guidance of the Dairy Sustainability Alliance (DSF Aggregating member) colleagues for this meeting. We are taking advantage of one of their key meetings with which to be aligned.

Further details are yet to be arranged although we can at least provide you with the dates and location and also the assurance that the whole meeting will be designed with ‘interactivity’ as a key component.  We will also use this time to collectively evolve the four remaining indicator metrics.

In addition to the DSF members meeting, the Dairy Sustainability Alliance will be holding its two-day (Spring) meeting on May 16 and 17 at the same venue.  They have kindly invited DSF members to attend this meeting where they will hear of the efforts of the US dairy sector in its sustainability journey at a number of levels of the dairy value chain.

During the second week of January, the dairy sector in Chile announced its Sustainable Development Agenda to 2021, a proposal that establishes the challenges and work guidelines of the sector for the next four years in matters of economic, social and environmental sustainability.

The document that will guide this path was developed in a participatory manner by all the organizations that make up the dairy chain and led by the National Committee of the IDF in the country. It was also supported by the Dairy Sustainability Framework, part of the release of the document, represented at the launch by Development Director, Brian Lindsay.

Some of the work priorities that this Agenda addresses in the short term are: to generate an environment of greater confidence within the chain; improve the working conditions of workers and their families in order to enhance their economic and social development; Caring for the environment; animal welfare and innovation in the activity, as well as contributing to the value of dairy products in consumers.

The DSF is a member of the Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock (www.livestockdialogue.org) which has become one of the world’s most dynamic and inclusive multi-stakeholder initiatives to tackle this challenge.

It is also on the steering group for the GASL’s Animal Welfare Action Network which aims to show how improved livestock care and welfare can contribute to delivery of the SDGs.

The Action Network is calling for case studies. If this is an area of work in which you are engaged through our Animal Care Criteria, the Animal Welfare Action Network provides a great opportunity for your organisation to gain high profile international visibility for its work in this area, both across the livestock sector and more widely to governments and policymakers. With the DSF being on the Steering Group for this Action Network we can facilitate members having their case studies considered - the more we profile the excellent work we are doing, the more others can learn from and consider implementing in other geographies.

Please contact the DSF Secretariat for more information by Friday 9 February 2018 to obtain the case study template.

In December 2017, Arla Foods invited dairy expert colleagues, researchers and expert organisations to a one-day seminar on carbon sequestration.

The long-term ambition is to promote carbon sequestration in farming practices as a measure to mitigate climate change. The goal of the day was to get an agreement on how to capture all existing activities and continue the work on carbon sequestration to include it in the current IDF guidelines on carbon and environmental footprint for the dairy and beef sectors.

A summary by Dr Greg Miller, Chief Science Officer at NDC, Executive Vice President of Research, Regulatory and Scientific Affairs for Dairy Management Inc. and Global Dairy Sector Lead for Nutritional Security for Global Dairy Platform and a member of the High Level Panel of Experts which produced the report.

This report will provide a framework for the food industry on how to tell their story and how they are participating in developing a sustainable food system that provides food security and nutrition. The report does not give much attention to agricultural production of food or food waste and loss. Concerns are raised about modern agricultural food systems and create uncertainty about the role that technical innovation can play in furthering sustainable food systems.

It would be valuable to have a library of examples on how dairy is innovating and utilizing technology to become more efficient and sustainable. In addition, the dairy sector can work to create a better dialog about its commitment to sustainable production by talking about the Dairy Declaration and participating in the Dairy Sustainability Framework.  

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