Carlinville, IL – Prairie Farms Dairy has released a video highlighting its participation in the Farm Smart™ supply chain sustainability pilot. The video is intended to educate consumers and industry partners about the continuing advancements in dairy sustainability.
The Farm Smart™ pilot is one of the first ever conducted for animal agriculture that tracks and measures environmental impacts across the value chain from farm to fleet to processing plant and identifies sustainability opportunities using Smart tools developed by the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy. Participants included 10 family farms – all members of the Prairie Farms cooperative, milk haulers and the Prairie Farms manufacturing plant in Granite City, IL. Representatives from McDonald’s, an industry partner with Prairie Farms and the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, visited the dairy farms and processing plant to observe first-hand where the milk supplied to their distribution centers originates, how it is processed, packaged and shipped.
“Prairie Farms represents over 700 farm families who have a longstanding commitment to environmental stewardship. Our cooperative symbolizes the dairy value chain from farm to table by providing milk and dairy products of uncompromised quality to thousands of consumers every day,” said Ed Mullins, Prairie Farms Executive Vice President and CEO. “McDonald’s has been our valued business partner for many years and we were proud to work with them on this groundbreaking project. We see great benefit in sharing dairy’s story to maintain and build consumer confidence in the dairy industry.”
“Customers love our quality dairy offerings, so we want them to know that America’s dairy farmers are working hard every day to bring those quality dairy products to them,” said Susan Forsell, Vice President of Sustainability for McDonald’s. “We’re proud of the work they do for McDonald’s,” Forsell added.
“We are all in it together, the farmer, the processor, and the retailer. We pour our heart and soul into our job every day,” said Tom Hemker, a Prairie Farms dairy farmer. Hemker also adds how this is an industry wide effort to reach out to consumers showing how we are collectively committed to insuring a nutritious food supply is available every day.
To view this video, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XB2vWjnEFjo
Source: Prairie Farms Dairy
