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Dairy Defined Podcast: NMPF’s Jonker on Dairy’s Advancing Stewardship

February 16, 2020

ARLINGTON, Va. – Dairy farming continues to advance in sustainability and animal welfare as technology and scientific understanding evolves, ensuring better care for the planet and for animals, said Jamie Jonker, NMPF vice president for sustainability and scientific affairs, in this week’s Dairy Defined Podcast.

Jonker discussed the significance of recent USDA discussions on agricultural sustainability in which he’s been involved while drilling more deeply into a topic of long-term importance to public health: improved management of antibiotics use in livestock. As science advances, so does dairy, Jonker said, making the sector’s ambitious sustainability and public-health goals achievable even as productivity increases, he said.

“The dairy farm I that grew up on looked a lot different from my great-grandparents’ dairy farm. Our animals made a lot more milk because we knew a lot more about genetics. They made a lot more milk because we knew how to feed them. They also made a lot more milk because we knew a lot more about how to take care of them,” Jonker said. “That’s just going to continue on into the future.”

To listen to the full podcast, click here. You can also find the Dairy Defined podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify,  SoundCloud and Google Play. Broadcast outlets may use the MP3 file. Please attribute information to NMPF.

(Note: NMPF’s Dairy Defined podcast explores today’s dairy farms and industry using high-quality data and podcast-style interviews to explain current dairy issues and dispel myths.)