In this issue...

A report on this month's members' meeting in Chicago, how to get involved in World Milk Day and much more...

Held in Chicago, USA on 14th and 15th May, in conjunction with the Innovation for US Dairy, the meeting was a great success, and was attended by 33 delegates from seven different countries. This led to insightful and extremely valuable interactions on many levels regarding the sustainability challenges (and successes!) faced by the global dairy industry today.

The meeting kicked off with a keynote address from Rob Cameron, Executive Director of SustainAbility, the consultancy which was instrumental in the formation of the Dairy Sustainability Framework in 2012/ 2013. Rob spoke about the importance of collaboration and the pre-competitive model for sustainability in the dairy industry and challenged members to be cognisant of the need to stay ahead of the sustainability curve.

He also shared what other sectors are pursuing in terms of sustainability and highlighted the importance of data in supporting the narrative related to the sector’s sustainability journey.

Another highlight of the meeting was the members’ sharing session, where six member organizations presented their sustainability initiatives across the six DSF criteria; Animal Care, Market Development, Water, GHG Emissions, Working Conditions and Rural Economies.

Members were presented with a number of sustainability initiatives from a diverse range of geographies, from Nestle’s water conservation practices in Iran, to Fonterra’s Dairy Development programme in Sri Lanka and Dairy Farmers of Canada’s Animal Care Program.

For those members who were not able to join us, the DSF secretariat has made the presentations available through the DSF Extranet.

Using the opportunity of the membership being together, the DSF organised an indicator workshop to further develop the final four indicators that are part of the 2018 DSF work plan. In what was an extremely interactive and productive session, the group reached agreement on draft high-level indicator metrics for the final four criteria: Waste, Market Development, Rural Economies, Product Safety & Quality.

This followed a series of member webinars held throughout April and May. The next step in the development process is for a facilitated online discussion to take place amongst DSF members over. DSF members are encouraged to visit the DSF Extranet for more detailed information regarding the outcomes from the workshop.

With many of our members travelling to Korea for the World Dairy Summit in October, we have once again taken the opportunity to arrange our second members meeting of the year.  This event will build on the success of this month’s meeting to ensure members benefit even more from their membership of the DSF. Make sure you have Sunday 14^th October 2018 clearly marked in your diary for the next DSF members meeting which will be in Daejeon, South Korea.

Don’t forget to get involved in World Milk Day 2018. The United Nations declared June 1st World Milk Day in 2001. It celebrates the important contributions of the dairy sector to sustainability, economic development, livelihoods, nutrition, and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Last Year, World Milk Day took social media by storm with 588 events in 80 countries. The day was trending on Twitter in India, New Zealand and the UK. This year, we are hoping to make World Milk Day even more wide-reaching, diverse, and impactful. You can help accomplish this goal in several different ways:  

Join the Conversation by following on Social Media  

• Hashtag: #WorldMilkDay
• Facebook: @GlobalDairyPlatform
• Twitter: @worldmilkday
• Instagram: @globaldairyplatform

Host an event by registering on the World Milk Day website https://worldmilkday.org/registration/

• Hosting an event is very simple! Visit our site for ideas.
• After registration, you will gain access to a host of media resources to aid you as you promote your event.
• Hosts will showcase their own organization as well as the dairy industry at large in their social media platforms of choice.

Join the team of World Milk Day Champions by being a Mobilizer

• Mobilizers are champions of the pro-milk conversation on social media on June 1^st, 2018 who will like, tweet, retweet, and post content about the positive contributions of the dairy sector throughout the Day.
• Mobilizers will attend specialized trainings on achieving maximum reach during global social media campaigns - a great skill beyond World Milk Day!
• Mobilizers become part of a global community of people who support the dairy sector.
• To become a mobilizer, register your name with Sid@emergingag.com to receive exclusive mobilizer training

The U.S. Dairy Sustainability Awards is an opportunity for the industry to recognize how innovation and creativity sparked by one farm, one person or one organization can have a ripple effect that goes well beyond their farm gate or front door.

This year, the seventh-annual awards celebration took place in Lombard, Ill., a suburb of Chicago, to honour the dairy farms, businesses and partnerships whose practices improve the well-being of people, animals and the planet. This year’s winners addressed water quality, manure management, recycling and more.

Judges evaluated nominations based on their economic, environmental and community impact. The independent judging panel — including experts from academic institutions, government, dairy science organizations, nongovernmental organizations, business and trade media — also considered innovation, scalability and replicability.

Award winners represent the U.S. dairy community’s voluntary efforts toward continuous improvement in sustainability practices that benefit their businesses, communities and the environment. Learn more about the winners here.

 AHDB Dairy, the UK farmer levy board, has released a film demonstrating how British dairy farmers and their cows do their best every day to produce delicious, nutritious milk.  

Dairy products are in almost every household, whether delivered to the doorstep or as part of the weekly supermarket shop.

In this film meet dairy farmers Abi Reader and Paul Tompkins and see how they and their teams care for the cows that provide this important element of a healthy diet.

The 8th Multi-Stakeholder Partnership Meeting will be held on 11-15 June 2018 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

The title, “Towards Sustainability: Livestock on the Move“ has been chosen for two reasons:

First, on the global level: Livestock is on the move in many global fora and in policy discussions at regional and national levels. The Global Agenda wants to participate substantially in this move. On the global level the 8th MSP meeting will address how the stakeholders of the Global Agenda can continue delivering through their Clusters, Action Networks and partners and therewith actively contribute to the tasks assigned to the livestock sector

Second, on the national and regional level: The meeting will focus on mobile herding. The regional policy forum and open space sessions will address the importance and relevance of mobile herding and alternative modalities to foster sustainable, low-carbon livestock production in the framework of the SDGs of the UN Agenda 2030 targets and objectives related to livestock.

The DSF will be attending the meeting to share the Framework’s progress and seeking solutions to a number of common livestock related sustainability challenges. If your or members of your organisation will make the effort to attend, we look forward to working with you there. Register here.

Dairy Australia is supporting workplace safety, included in the DSF Working Conditions criteria, with its strategic program 'Workforce Strategy, Planning and Action'.
One of its key projects in this area is Farm Safety.  Initiatives include the Farm Safety Starter Kit released late last year.

FAO Launches New Tool for Reporting on World’s Forests

Reducing Enteric Methane for improving food security and livelihoods