US endorses Dairy Declaration of Rotterdam
The Dairy Declaration of Rotterdam was created in October 2016 by the IDF and the FAO at the World Dairy Summit in Brussels and is using the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as its overarching frameworks to guide its actions.
“The dairy sector has a key role to play in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda. The goals integrate the three dimensions of Sustainability (economic, social and environmental) and call for commitment from all stakeholders,” FAO assistant director general, Ren Wang, said when the declaration was created last year.
Chair Cary Frye, senior vice president, regulatory affairs of the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) and vice chair Shawna Morris, vice president of trade policy at National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) signed the declaration on behalf of US-IDF, and Aurélie Dubois, technical manager for at IDF.
In addition to the recent endorsement from the US dairy sector, the Dairy Declaration of Rotterdam has been endorsed by key dairy industry stakeholders of Ireland and New Zealand.
US commitment to sustainability
The US-IDF said that the terms of the Dairy Declaration of Rotterdam align with its industry’s goals including taking an integrated approach to promote the sustainability of dairy systems.
“Today, America’s dairy farmers are producing a gallon of milk that uses 65% less water, requires 90% less land and has a 63% smaller carbon footprint than it did 70 years ago,” Morris said.
“The US dairy industry looks forward to continuing to partner with other signers of the Dairy Declaration in building upon dairy’s positive track record of providing consumers with the nutritious, responsibly produced products they want while continuing to further its commitment to providing a sustainable dairy food system in this country.”
