Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative Association (MDVA) has been awarded a $10 million grant through the 2023 U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP). The grant, which will help Mid-Atlantic dairy farmers produce tangible results through climate smart solutions, bring MDVA’s total on-farm sustainability investment to more than $70 million.
“Our award-winning sustainability programs have created a pipeline of dairy farmers interested in implementing climate smart solutions on their farms,” said Lindsay Reames, Executive Vice President of Sustainability & External Relations at MDVA. “We thank the USDA for investing in a sustainability approach that puts farmers first and allows our cooperative to implement oftentimes life changing sustainability practices on our local dairy farms.”
The goal and objectives of MDVA’s project are to increase outreach and education about conservation practices and their benefits (water quality, greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction, soil health, farm efficiency) to dairy farmers in Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. MDVA will continue building the pipeline of dairy farms interested in and ready to implement climate smart practices which improve local water quality, yield GHG reductions, and improve soil health. The project will collaborate with MDVA’s long-term partner in sustainability, the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, to show the water quality benefits of the implementation of climate smart practices completed through the project.
The Maryland Department of Agriculture, Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, Pennsylvania State Conservation Commission, Virginia Department of Conservation Resources, American Dairy Association North East, and The Dairy Alliance are providing contributions that will multiply the benefits of this project. MDVA’s grant was a portion of $1.1 billion investment across 81 projects through the RCPP. Nine of the projects focus on dairy, totaling $96.44 million.
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Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative Association is a community of more than 900 dairy farm families in 10 states passionate about cultivating dairy goodness and bottling fresh Maola brand milk and dairy products. Our farmer-owned cooperative owns five dairy processing plants that process more than three billion pounds of milk annually. Our diverse portfolio of dairy products are then distributed to consumers in the United States and ingredients customers worldwide. Our cooperative is a leader in sustainability, partnering across the supply chain to deliver sustainable solutions to our member farms. We take pride in supporting the educational and nutritional needs of the communities in our milkshed through our MDVA Fund. For more information about Maryland & Virginia, visit: www.mdvamilk.com.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 1, 2023
Contact: Amanda Culp, aculp@mdvamilk.com, 540-333-9873
Date line: Herndon, Virginia
