— The Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association (WCMA) has encouraged and supported growth in the nation’s dairy industry through advocacy, education and healthy competition and collaboration since 1891. WCMA executive director John Umhoefer authored the Association Insights entry for the Jan./Feb. 2025 issue of Dairy Processing.
In dairy, sustainability has moved from discussion to deliverables, and WCMA has found its niche. Among the industry partners developing tools to decipher carbon footprints, WCMA has focused on education and direct assistance to dairy processors who have fewer corporate resources – but all the drive – to do sustainability right.
A national effort
At the heart of dairy’s commitment to sustainability – and this article is leaning into the environmental stewardship piece of sustainability – is the Innovation Center for US Dairy, a voluntary collaboration between farm groups, dairy processors and dairy organizations. The Innovation Center is the hub for dairy’s sustainability goals and implementation, including the 2050 Environmental Stewardship Goals that bundle greenhouse gas neutrality, water conservation and water quality as targets for the entire dairy food supply chain.
That means dairy processors have an important role to play. Not only are processors looking to reduce their carbon footprint and optimize water use, but they are key communicators with their dairy farm partners.
Resources abound for processors. The Innovation Center welcomes dairy processors into their toolkit of services through the Dairy Sustainability Alliance. International Dairy Foods Association offers its Sustainability Resource Guide. And Dairy Management Inc. – the nation’s checkoff program juggernaut – recently released the online Dairy Conservation Navigator, a science-backed database helping processors and farmers discover and implement green practices.
Making it local
But there’s a learning curve to tackling environmental sustainability. For mid-sized and smaller dairy manufacturers, that means bringing terms like “materiality assessment” into your vocabulary while you keep your processes humming. WCMA thinks sustainability success requires boots-on-the-ground assistance – farm by farm and dairy plant by dairy plant. Our association is pleased to deliver sustainability resources deep into the dairy community, building carbon footprint reduction into the business plans of every dairy processor, regardless of size.
Last spring, WCMA partnered with Innovation Center to execute: “Maximizing Sustainability: A Materiality Assessment Workshop for Dairy Processors.” It was gratifying to see seasoned larger processors excited to mentor smaller manufacturers in the oversubscribed workshop. The group learned the Global Reporting Initiative Standards from Innovation Center partner Harbor Environmental, and participants earned follow-up consultation to assure dairy plants could begin – and complete – their materiality work.
In 2025, WCMA will formalize its Sustainability Group – our members’ portal to sustainability tools. Open to every member, this group will roll out offerings such as:
June 4 & 5 – WCMA Sustainability Group Workshop: Carbon Clarity: How to Measure, Benchmark and Improve Your Company’s GHG Impact. Participants will work through the process of determining greenhouse gas inventory, establish emission benchmarks and learn to track and report progress in alignment with frameworks such as the GHG Protocol.
Sept. 10 & 11 – WCMA Sustainability Group Workshop: Optimizing Sustainability: A Materiality Assessment Workshop. This interactive workshop will support the creation and completion of a materiality assessment for their company or cooperative, including an overview of the concept of double materiality.
Innovation Center is a key partner in these nuts and bolts workshops, assuring that the efforts of these WCMA members dovetail with national standards and national data collection on dairy’s green progress.
