Stewardship
Partners in Progress
At Integrated Dairy Ingredients, along side our cooperative owners, we support socially responsible, economically viable, and environmentally sound dairy farm and business practices.
Sustainability is important, and it is second nature to the farmers that are members of our owner cooperatives. Farmers are stewards of their animals and their land, constantly working to improve their farming operations to produce the best dairy products for our customers.
We all know that you reap what you sow, and we're all working to sow the seeds to achieve a better future.
Animal Care
To produce milk, cows must be fed a nutritious diet, be well cared for, and remain comfortable. Dairy cattle owners work day in and day out to ensure that their cow's needs are met.
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In addition to the day-to-day care provided, the dairy farms within IDI's network are evaluated by the Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM) program. The FARM program is based on industry accepted best management practices that farmers must follow for every cow and calf on the farm. Each farm undergoes assessments of cow care and health, and maintains regular contact with veterinarians as part of the program.
Environmental Stewardship
Water quality and soil health is important to the long-term viability of dairy farms and the ecosystems we live and operate in. The dairy farmers that ship to our member cooperatives are constantly working to protect and improve the soil quality through crop diversity and rotation, enhance water quality by installing vegetative buffer strips, and better understand and reduce their carbon footprint.
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Environmental stewardship assessments help farms better understand their greenhouse gas emissions, measure energy use on their dairy farms, and provide individualized tools and resources for farmers to measure and improve their environmental footprint.
Community
In addition to the physical locations where we work and live, our community includes the farmers and cooperatives that we work for, our customers, our coworkers, our transportation carriers, and each stakeholder in our supply network.
Living in community with each other, lending a helping hand, and being a force for good ​on this planet just makes sense.
Partners in Progress
As we said at the start, we support socially responsible, economically viable, and environmentally sound dairy farm and business practices. We are all on a journey to continuously improve and reduce our footprint while supplying nutrient dense dairy products to the marketplace.
​We know that there is not a 'one size fits all' approach to sustainability and that it takes many small actions to improve the overall health of the planet. ​We are committed to being partners in progress and are open to collaborate on projects with our owners, employees, and customers to reduce our collective impact on the planet.
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