Ask the Dietitian
By Althea Zanecosky, MS, RD, LDN
Mid-Atlantic Dairy Association
May 2009
Q: Our new first lady, Michelle Obama, has a White House vegetable garden and is advocating fresh, unprocessed, and locally grown food. What is the dairy industry doing to help support Mrs. Obama’s agenda for a more nutritious and sustainable food supply?
A: In her first months in the White House, Mrs. Obama has emerged as a champion of wholesome food and healthful living. She has started her own - and encouraged - community vegetable gardens, opened up the White House kitchen to draw attention to chefs’ expertise with vegetables, and helped out cooking and donating food to a Washington DC soup kitchen.
While the White House garden will provide food for the first family’s meals and formal dinners, Mrs. Obama said its most important role will be to educate children about growing healthy food at a time when obesity and diabetes have become a national concern.
The First Lady has called attention to the need for more fresh, locally grown food and has vowed to encourage a more nutritious and sustainable food supply. Besides starting your own garden, you can look for seasonal, local products that are sold at most major grocery chains. And remember that many of the foods in the dairy case were also produced and processed locally.
American farmers are providing consumers with more and better quality food than ever before. According to the USDA, one farmer now supplies food for more than 144 people in the United States and abroad compared with just 25.8 people in 1960 and on less land every year. Production of food worldwide rose in the past half century, and it is proposed that between 70 and 90 percent of the increase resulted from modern farming practices rather than more acres cultivated.
The vast majority of farmers, including those in dairy, strive for sustainability, whether they choose to use the latest technology and practices or follow organic guidelines. One reason is that most U.S. dairy farms are family owned; data from the USDA show that more than 99 percent of all farms are owned by families. Additionally, 91 percent are considered by the USDA to be “small family farms,” with $250,000 a year or less in income.
Dairy farmers have improved the amount of milk each cow produces, thereby reducing the amount of feed, water and space needed, plus resulting in less manure. According to USDA statistics, U.S. dairy farmers are producing almost three times more milk with about half the number of cows compared to 1960.
Dairy farming and processing have great impact beyond the farm and processing plant. Their contribution, especially in rural communities, can be essential to the health of a local economy. The U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic (BEA) analysis multipliers are a way to consider local impact from dairy. BEAs Output Multipliers show how much the economy’s output is increased by an additional dollar of sales from an industry; dairy has a multiplier of 3.99.
That means if an average dairy farm in the U.S. sold an additional $1 million of milk, it would boost the economy by $3,995,400. Another figure of interest is the employment impact of an industry. BEA’s Employment Multiplier calculates the number of jobs created by increasing annual industry sales. The average U.S. dairy employment multiplier is 34.16; meaning that $1million in dairy farm sales would, on average in the U.S., create an additional 34 jobs.
The dairy industry is doing its part to provide a nutritious and sustainable foods supply. Be part of the sustainable food movement by enjoying dairy foods produced here in the U.S. as well as helping efforts to keeping ground open for local farmers - food crops and dairy. These efforts also assist other environmental issues like over-development with resulting storm water run-off.
For more information about sustainability:
Sustainability: Securing the Future of the Dairy Industry
http://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/pubs/agnic/susag.shtml
http://www.midwestdairy.com/files/PDF/SustainabilityFactSheet2009-02-20.pdf
References:
Blayney, D.P. 2002. The changing landscape of U.S. milk production. Statistical bulletin 978, United State Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C.
US Department of Agriculture. U.S. Farms: Numbers, Size, and Ownership, Family Farm Report 2005. http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/EIB12/EIB12c.pdf
Us Department of Agriculture. National Agriculture Statistic Services 2005.