USDA Renews Agreement with Dairy Producers

Last Wednesday USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the renewal of an agreement with dairy producers to accelerate the adoption of innovative waste-to-energy projects and energy efficiency improvements on U.S. dairy farms -- both will help producers diversify revenues and reduce utility expenses on their operations. Vilsack complimented the dairy industry for their commitment.

Vilsack: “No group of producers have been more out front on these issues than the dairy producers and dairy companies in the United States.”

One objective of this agreement is to increase the construction of anaerobic digesters and explore innovative ways to use products previously considered waste streams from dairy production, processing and handling. Vilsack says this renewal of the 2009 agreement reaffirms USDA’s commitment.

Vilsack: “In doing so, we pledge and promise to the dairy producers to produce over the course of the next several years a road map for biogas, just in the same way that as we established a road map for biofuel. The road map will essentially be a review and examination of the supply chain of biogas to determine where, regionally, the opportunities exist, what barriers there might be and how we at USDA can assist the industry in removing those barriers.”

USDA’s Natural Resources Conversation Service has provided $257 million in funding since 2009 that has helped more than 6,000 dairy farmers plan and implement conservation practices to improve sustainability.