Sustainable Practices Shape Florida Dairy Farms
In partnership with: Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
Dairy products are nutrient-dense and excellent sources of protein. With 13 essential vitamins and nutrients, these products offer much to those looking for healthful foods.
“Drop for drop, you’re not going to find a more well-rounded, nutritious food,” says Avery LeFils, Florida Dairy Farmers Senior Industry Relations and Communications Manager.
For generations, Florida dairy farms have been providing fresh, high-quality milk to more than 150 million Florida residents and tourists annually.
See more: Florida Farm Families Keep the Tradition Going Through the Generations
A Florida Dairy Tale
Jan Henderson is a third-generation dairy farmer following in the footsteps of her father, Ron St. John. After moving from Western New York to Levy County in 1986, St. John founded and operated a dairy. He later opened Alliance Dairies in 1990. In 2010, Henderson left her agricultural lending career to join her father’s farm and is now the CEO.
Today, the Alliance Dairies Group encompasses 6,000 acres and just over 13,000 cows. While managing this large-scale farm, it’s important for Henderson to continue to modernize and adopt sustainable practices.
“Dairy enriches the state’s agriculture industry,” she says. “For our farm to produce fresh milk, we rely heavily on our sustainable practices.”
In 2012, the farm built a massive, concrete anaerobic manure digester. This enclosed receptacle captures the methane gas released by the breakdown of cow manure. Initially, the captured methane gas powered an electric generator on the farm. But, as of recently, the gas is now captured, cleaned, compressed and injected straight into the pipeline as a renewable natural gas.
In addition to the methane digester, Alliance Dairies utilizes various water conservation efforts, reduces tillage in crop fields by using a Soil Warrior to minimize erosion, and modernizes its feed center to reduce fossil fuel usage and feed waste.
Thanks to the dairy’s leading sustainability efforts, in 2021, Starbucks piloted a program with Alliance Dairies that features a full suite of technologies and practices to further sustainability. Results and efforts will be shared with more farmers to help improve renewable resources.
“Alliance Dairies has a very impressive operation,” LeFils says. “Including Jan’s farm, approximately one-third of the state’s dairy farms have a renewable energy production initiative in addition to milk production. About 98% of the milk produced in Florida each year stays here. That’s important because we want to produce enough milk, ensuring Florida’s residents and guests are getting the highest quality and freshest product possible.”