Dairy Sustainability Awards & FFA Convention

Dairy Sustainability Awards & FFA Convention

I’m Lacy Gray with Washington Ag Today.

At the second annual Dairy Sustainability Awards in Washington D.C. in April Dan DeGroot, owner of Skyridge Farms of Sunnyside, received the “Outstanding Dairy Farm Sustainability Award”, which recognizes dairy farms for practices that deliver outstanding economic, environmental and/or social benefit.  Since 2003 DeGroot has added occupancy sensors, improved lighting - consulting with the WSU Energy Program, and installed a Programable Logic Controller that runs several farm operations, including barn fans and a soaker cooling system for the cows.

DEGROOT: At Skyridge Farms we really have a motto of trying to help to feed the world in a responsible way, and we do this primarily through cow comfort. We’re able to design these programs to really meet the cows’ needs. They also help us save energy - they help us save water.

The 83rd Washington State FFA Convention will kick off May 9th in Pullman. The three day event will include the election of officers and conferring awards, along with an Ag Issues contest in which twenty FFA chapters will compete in addressing complex agriculture issues such as antibiotic and hormone use in animals, genetically modified foods, and large carnivore predation. Through this competition FFA members will learn to examine both sides of important issues. Over 2,000 FFA students will be participating in this year’s convention being held in WSU’s Beasley Coliseum.

I’m Lacy Gray and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Ag Information Network.