Milking It, Sustainably: Balancing Productivity, Conservation, and Innovation on U.S. Dairy Farms

This article is sponsored by Midwest Dairy.

Dairy farms stretch across the Midwest, blending century-old barns with parlors guided by robots to turn grass and grain into nutrient-rich milk that anchors both rural and urban life. In 2024, the United States produced 226 billion pounds of milk, with each dairy cow yielding approximately 24,000 pounds of milk per year, compared to 9,475 pounds per cow in the 1970s. This higher milk yield is due to several factors, including improved genetics, innovative farming practices and technology, as well as a continued focus on cow comfort and precise cow nutrition. When combined, these greater efficiencies help mitigate climate impacts, an issue for which the U.S. dairy industry has undergone scrutiny. As a result, the industry has committed to collectively achieving greenhouse gas neutrality by 2050, while also optimizing water use, maximizing recycling, and improving water quality. Water conservation is a top priority on dairy farms, and every drop is reused up to four times for purposes such as chilling milk, providing cows with clean drinking water, irrigating crops, and cleaning stalls.

A recent study found that the emission intensity from U.S. raw milk production has decreased from 159 million tonnes of CO2e in 2007 to 138 million tonnes in 2020. Additionally, fossil energy use has decreased by 54% and the use of water to produce milk has reduced by 28%. However, due to an overall increase in total milk production, total emissions have risen from 127 million tonnes of CO2e in 2007 to 139 million tonnes in 2020. During this time, greenhouse gas emissions per gallon of milk decreased by 13%, indicating that farmers are producing more milk with fewer resources and a smaller environmental footprint per gallon. While the majority of data show signs of improvement, other data indicate that the U.S. dairy industry needs to continue making improvements to reach its 2050 net neutrality goal. Dairy farmers are helping to achieve the goal of greenhouse gas neutrality through various methods, including incorporating methane-inhibiting feed additives, covering lagoons, and using anaerobic digesters.

Lower greenhouse gas emissions and higher yields directly contribute to stronger local economies. In South Dakota, the dairy industry supports an estimated 14,000 jobs, generating $7.2 billion in output. Education is keeping pace. Michigan State University recently opened a $75 million research dairy, arming students with robotic milkers and real-time data tracking to test new ideas. Although there are many challenges in dairy farming, such as fluctuating milk prices and labor shortages, the dairy community continues to look towards innovation that builds a more sustainable future for their farms, the people they feed, and the planet, one milking shift at a time.