Animal Ag Working To Highlight Sustainability Successes

Animal agriculture says they continue to make strides in sustainability, and that is highlighted in a new report. Emily Ellis, Director of Communications and Content with the Animal Agriculture Alliance, said they have just released their Sustainability Impact Report.

“This is an annual report that each year, with support from a lot of our members and partners, we like to update it with any new data information related to, you know, the sustainability efforts happening within the US, animal agriculture community advancements related to animal welfare and also highlighting how meat, dairy, poultry, eggs and seafood play such a critical role in a healthy, balanced diet,” Ellis said.

She added dairy is one of the industry segments that has a particularly strong health and sustainability record reflected in the report.

“It covers a lot of different topics, a lot of different really key issues, and it breaks it down by species, so you can see, this is what dairy specifically is doing to reduce its environmental impact," Ellis said.  "This is the role that dairy plays in a healthy diet, and eliminating these foods, you're going to have a really hard time meeting your nutrient requirements.”

The report shows that while agriculture has made tremendous progress, there is still more work to do.

“We always like to highlight that even though farmers and ranchers for decades have been implementing sustainability measures and making this great progress," Ellis added.  "Sustainability is a journey. It's not a destination. So even though we've made a lot of progress, there's still more that we can always do, and there are quite a few different groups, quite a few different industries, within animal ag, that are taking those next steps, they've made commitments to reduce further their environmental impact.”

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