2024 September Board Book

DAIRY CARES COMMUNICATIONS FINDS SUCCESS IN MULTIMEDIA MESSAGING

Program Leaders: Michael Boccadoro and Jennifer Bingham, Dairy Cares

STRONG COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES BACKED BY SCIENCE-BASED EVIDENCE, CONTINUE TO SHOWCASE THE CALIFORNIA DAIRY INDUSTRY AS A GLOBAL LEADER IN SUSTAINABLE FARMING

Strong communications strategies help educate communities and policy makers on positive impacts of California dairy farmers A vital component of the coalition’s success has been a strong communications program. In 2023, Dairy Cares prioritized creating and updating educational resources for the media, early adopters, and opinion leaders, as well as presenting to key stakeholders, engaging with government officials and agency board members, and maintaining communications support to the California Dairy Quality Assurance Program (CDQAP). Dairy Cares webpages about California’s planet-smart dairy farm practices were continually updated to provide the most accurate information available. This included an update to the key messages document and the addition of educational recordings related to the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) to the Dairy Cares YouTube channel. Efforts such as these have been successful in increasing web visits from California-based users. In 2023, the Dairy Cares’ YouTube channel had more than 131,500 views and 3,300 hours of watch time. Digester information updates confirm dairy emissions reductions One key accomplishment of 2023 was gathering infor mation from digester developers and energy consultants to calculate the amount of dairy biogas being produced on California dairy farms and to accurately portray that information in the context of energy use.

California dairy farmers lead the world in the develop- ment of planet-smart dairy farm practices. For over two decades, Dairy Cares has showcased this global leadership by providing credible, accurate, and highly accessible information about California dairy farmers’ sustainability efforts. Dairy Cares was formed in 2001 as a coalition of the California dairy community to ensure long-term sustainability of the more than 1,100 dairy farms across California. Under the leadership of Executive Director Michael Boccadoro, Dairy Cares has spent over two decades actively working on behalf of California dairy farmers to communicate issues related to sustainability, including animal well-being, environmental stewardship, and community involvement. Since its inception, the coalition has successfully saved California dairy farmers hundreds of millions of dollars, in part by helping to form the Central Valley Dairy Representative Monitoring Program (CVDRMP). This program has saved dairy farmers more than $6 million dollars annually in direct compliance costs. In 2023, Dairy Cares continued to advocate for a volun tary, incentives-based approach to help dairy farmers meet the state’s ambitious methane reduction goals while avoiding costly regulation. This included informing stakeholders and others on advanced manure manage ment projects and climate smart dairy markets as outlined by the Partnership for Climate-Smart Commodities grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), awarded to CDRF (and others) in 2023.

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