For Immediate Release
Modern Farm Advocates to Pursue Achievable, Verifiable Sustainability Efforts
The newly launched Wisconsin Dairy Alliance (WDA) believes it’s time modern regulated farms provide a new platform for real conversations, collaboration and viable solutions as Gov. Tony Evers has declared 2019 “The Year of Clean Drinking Water.”
The WDA unites dairy farmers, processors, environmental experts and affiliated industries to support government-regulated farmers to establish scientifically sound, sustainably focused solutions to issues confronting America’s Dairyland.
The WDA seeks truthful, accountable coverage of legitimate agricultural and environment issues by providing proactive access to science-based sources as well as reacting rapidly and responsibly to misleading coverage of critical issues.
“Many of today’s large farms in Wisconsin have been designed and built to achieve the lowest carbon footprint ever achieved in animal agriculture,” noted Cindy Leitner – President of the Wisconsin Dairy Alliance.
“Regulated Dairies are home to 300,000 of Wisconsin’s 1.3 million dairy cows,” she noted. “and have become a scapegoat for this issue, which may make some feel good, but it does nothing to reduce pollution.”
Wisconsin must pursue an all-encompassing approach to environmental management. Including the impact from all sources, such as home owners excessively applying nitrate-based lawn products; the annual “controlled releases” of hundreds of millions of gallons of sewage in urban centers; noncompliant smaller farms who discharge; crop farms that impact water through excessive nutrient applications and the epidemic of substandard septic systems and outdated wells that are not compliant with today’s standards.
“To solve this issue,” Leitner said. “there needs to be a path to compliance for all dischargers to meet a “zero-discharge” standard like the 300 modern large regulated farms across the state already do.”
“Modern largescale livestock farming is the cleanest, safest and most competent form of livestock husbandry created since man corralled the first cattle 5,000 years ago. The WDA proudly stands alongside them and advocates on their behalf.”
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