The Foremost Farms USA Board of Directors has established a new committee to provide oversight of the cooperative’s sustainability and environmental stewardship strategies and other related activities. The new Sustainability Committee reaffirms Foremost Farms’ long-standing commitment to sustainable practices and its dedication to continue building and evolving its environmental stewardship standards.
“As a cooperative of dairy farmers, this new Sustainability Committee aligns with the values and practices we already hold,” said Dave Scheevel, Chairman – Foremost Farms USA Board of Directors. “This is our way to formally enable the Board to focus on and engage with the important work that is happening across the cooperative.”
Sustainability Committee members include Mike Geerlings, Roger Hildebrandt, John Machuzick and Jay Richardson.
“We’re fortunate to have a Board that has always recognized the importance of sustainability,” said Greg Schlafer, President and CEO – Foremost Farms USA. “We look forward to the insight and guidance they will be able to offer the Foremost Farms Sustainability Council and our regional leaders.”
The Sustainability Council, made up of Foremost Farms executive leadership team members and cross-functional employees, is taking a proactive approach to environmental stewardship, health and safety, community engagement and other factors. They are identifying opportunities to make a difference, engaging employees across the cooperative’s 11 locations and developing strategies for successful execution.
“We are proud to have strong partnerships with organizations that focus on sustainability in our industry,” said Schlafer. “We partner with the National Dairy FARM Environmental Stewardship Program, serve as a founding partner in Newtrient LLC and hold a membership with the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy as well as adoption of its U.S. Dairy Stewardship Commitment.”
Last week, the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy published the 2020 U.S. Dairy Sustainability Report that covers calendar years 2019 and 2020. It provides updates since 2018 on the dairy community’s proactive, transparent, and unified approach to measuring and reporting progress against goals as outlined by the U.S. Dairy Stewardship Commitment. A key feature of the report is the first formal analysis of aggregated data from dairy processors, including Foremost Farms, that have adopted the U.S. Dairy Stewardship Commitment. The data represents approximately 70% of U.S. milk production and provides a baseline for future U.S. dairy sustainability reporting in key areas such as water, energy, GHG emissions, resource recovery, product quality and safety, community contributions and workforce development. The report is the only comprehensive summary of U.S. dairy’s contributions against social responsibility priorities, including environmental stewardship, animal care, food safety and community contributions.
