It is often said farmers are the original entrepreneurs, continuously seeking to innovate and improve their operations. However, those on-farm changes can often be costly, especially when navigating challenging market conditions. This is where the power of the Land O’Lakes cooperative comes in: collaborating with our customers to help member-owners reduce the environmental impact of farming while also supporting shared goals. 

One area of opportunity is practice changes within manure management—which has been shown to reduce on-farm emissions, manage odor, and benefit water quality.  Additionally, the dried solids can be repurposed for use as cow bedding or nutrient-efficient fertilizer to grow dairy feed.

Land O’Lakes Dairy Foods is proud to partner with longtime customer, Mars, Inc., to enable a manure management practice change project in California. Supported with private funding from Mars, member-owners at O&S Holsteins recently installed an enhanced solid liquid separation system that has both operational and environmental benefits for their dairy operation.  
 
“We’re excited about the installation of this technology, and we thank O&S Holsteins for their leadership in adopting this technology on their farm,” says Pete Kappelman, Land O’Lakes senior vice president of Member and Government Relations.  

Land O'Lakes is one of four global dairy suppliers partnering with Mars on the company’s multi-million-dollar sustainable dairy initiative. 

“The private-sector collaboration at the heart of this work combines funding, technical support and incentives to help farmers prioritize meaningful improvements to their operations while navigating difficult dairy market conditions,” says Heather Anfang, president of Dairy Foods. “We look forward to continuing to build upon our long-term partnership with Mars in providing quality products and supporting the Land O’Lakes cooperative network.”  

Collaborative initiatives like this showcase the success that customer investments can have in driving further voluntary on-farm practice changes that help better position farmers, cooperatives and the dairy industry for long-term success.