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Farmers committed to environment:
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| By: Laurie Fischer, Executive Director Dairy Business Association |
September 30, 2009 |
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Few things in Wisconsin are more important than protecting our environment and assuring the long-term success of the dairy industry, a cornerstone of our state's economy. These goals are not mutually exclusive.
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Today's dairy farmers are committed to farming in a way that protects our natural resources while producing safe, nutritious and affordable dairy products for consumers in Wisconsin and around the world, while protecting our environment and contributing to the quality rural way of life we enjoy in our great state.
Today's dairy farms are different than they were 20 years ago. Just like every other sector of our economy, dairy farmers have had to change with the times to remain competitive with other states and other countries. So while our farms may be larger and more technologically advanced than two decades ago, our commitment to do what's right has never been stronger.
We take our obligation to the environment seriously, as do state regulators. Farmers are the original recyclers. We take the grain grown on Wisconsin farms, add value to it by producing dairy products to feed our nation and apply the organic nutrients in manure back to the soil to grow the next years' crops and to maintain healthy farm ground. Using this renewable resource of organic fertilizer lessens our dependence on petroleum-based fertilizers, reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the process.
Larger dairy operations must comply with environmental regulations that are more stringent than those applied to our municipal sewage treatment plants. Permitted dairies in Wisconsin are held to a "zero discharge" standard. By law, large dairies must apply the valuable nutrients found in manure in a way that assures there is no discharge of that manure to any body of water. By contrast, our municipalities are allowed to discharge in some instances untreated wastewater directly to rivers and lakes across the state and to land apply municipal biosolids with phosphorus many times the level that farmers are allowed.
Research conducted at the University of Minnesota and published by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers indicates that larger farms do a better job protecting the environment because they have the resources to hire environmental specialists dedicated to managing environmental issues.
But size is not the issue. What counts is our commitment to produce safe, nutritious and affordable dairy products for you and your family, to create jobs and support local economies, to provide a future for the next generation of family farmers, all while protecting our environment and contributing to a quality rural way of life in Wisconsin. That's a commitment you can count on from all of Wisconsin's dairy farmers, regardless of size.
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©The Chetek Alert 2009
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