Alan Bjerga: Hello and welcome to the Dairy Defined Podcast. What is environmental stewardship and what does it mean for dairy farmers? Today’s guest will have some thoughts on this since environmental stewardship is one initiative she leads with the FARM program. That’s Farmers Assuring Responsible Management managed by NMPF. Nicole Ayache, welcome to the podcast.
Nicole Ayache: Thanks, Alan.
Alan Bjerga: FARM ES stands for environmental stewardship. What’s the quick rundown on what FARM ES is and what it’s supposed to accomplish?
Nicole Ayache: FARM ES is part of the National Dairy Farm Program, which is US Dairy’s on-farm program to provide assurances to customers and consumers on how farmers care for their animals, their land, and their people. Within that, FARM ES is a platform designed together with farmers at the table to demonstrate that US dairy farmers are environmental stewards and to create opportunities for incentive projects, funds, and more to help support their work.
Alan Bjerga: What’s the traditional importance of stewardship in the dairy community? What does it mean in 2026?
Nicole Ayache: Dairy farmers have long been environmental stewards, which for me means doing more with less, and they’ve done that for generations. So for example, one cow in 2007 produced five times as much milk as one cow in 1944. And we’ve seen time again in studies that per pound of milk produced, dairy farmers have reduced their water use, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, reduced their land footprint because they were pursuing those efficiency gains and those resource stewardship gains that are better for the bottom line, better for the operation and better for the planet. So really, stewardship is about that doing more with less.
Alan Bjerga: And as you noted, this means dollars and cents. How much of stewardship is really just efficiency?
Nicole Ayache: A lot of stewardship is about efficiency. So again, doing those bottom line things that benefit the business. But there are a couple elements to it that I’d add on. First, I never want to lose sight of the piece of stewardship that means dedication or responsibility. Of course, choices have to make sense for the business always, but the why of stewardship is bigger than that. And I think anyone who chats with farmers know that because you can hear every time you talk to them about their farm and their choices, you can hear their passion for the animals and the land and their care and the nutrition they provide to our country and the world. So that stewardship piece, again, bringing back that dedication, that responsibility, even as you’re thinking about the business.
Alan Bjerga: You’re really talking about dairy farmer values here.
Nicole Ayache: Yes. Yes, very much. It’s just embedded in what people have done for a very long time always. And I think what they’ll keep doing in the future, that’s maybe the second piece I’d add to it is that future-looking component. So sometimes people talk about that as using the word sustainability. And really that just means that stewardship decision, those choices that think not only about today and the dollars and cents and stewardship of today, but the long-term. So how do we ensure future generations are set up for success, or even ourselves in 20 years? Which also is very much one of the values of dairy farming is how do we make sure our kids or our nieces and nephews or whoever’s going to be on this farm next is taking on something that is resilient, that’s set up for success.
Alan Bjerga: And those are all important considerations. Another important consideration is time, which is one thing that farmers tend not to have a lot of. FARM ES is very involved in data collection. Data collection takes time. How does the program make that time and effort worth it? And how does the program collect data from the farmer and how is it used?
Nicole Ayache: Those are all important questions and I think a lot in there. So maybe I’ll start with that last one.
Alan Bjerga: Yeah, let’s break it down. I probably threw a lot at you right there. Sorry about that.
Nicole Ayache: No, no, it’s okay. I think maybe starting with that last piece of how does the program collect data and what is the data in there? So most farmers participate through their cooperative or processor that they ship milk to. And those organizations have trained field staff or what we call evaluators in the program who work with farms to collect the data needed to run that environmental assessment. And that data includes things like herd numbers, milk production for the year, how the farm manages manure, just things that most farms just have at the ready. And we did work very closely with researchers who work on the model to say, how can we reduce the burden on farms and really just focus on the data that matters the most? And we also worked with farmers to make sure that anything that we’re asking for, any type of data are items that they already have, that we ask about it in an approachable way.
So really just trying to minimize that data burden on the farm. And I think the other part of your question is, what do we do with this data and how do we make it worth it for farms? So the data gets collected and entered into a secure software platform that we manage that is hosted through our website and servers. Through that system, the data runs through and delivers that environmental assessment score. And we could do a whole other podcast about how do we make it worth it for the farmers involved. But in brief, farm program and the cooperatives and processors that participate in the program can use aggregated data to protect dairy’s license to operate. So really, again, providing that assurance externally that US dairy farmers are doing a good job. And then there are these ongoing programs through the supply chain, through co-ops and processors where some farmers have received incentive dollars or some kind of credit for their environmental performance.
Alan Bjerga: Now farmers have concerns, of course, about sharing their data. How does FARM approach data security and privacy?
Nicole Ayache: Yeah, it’s a very reasonable thing. And I encourage any farmer to ask us, ask field staff, ask their co-op or processor for more info, but I’ll share high level here, which is that we do take that data privacy and security very seriously. So farm program has a privacy policy and terms of service that layout exactly what can and cannot be done with farmer data. And first and foremost, within that, it’s clear farmers own their data. They own the data that is from their farm, they own the data put into the farm program, and farm staff and co-ops and processors can only share that aggregated data. No one can share individual farmer data without their permission or they’d be in breach of our privacy policy and terms of service.
And the other piece of that that you asked about is that security element. So we work with a technology company who helps manage our platform that has served companies and clients in banking and medical sectors. So they’re very familiar with data sensitivity and security and how to keep it protected from anyone on the outside. So we take both those pieces seriously, the privacy and the security.
Alan Bjerga: One of the strengths you mentioned to FARM ES is that the program is designed with significant farmer input. But because of these issues that you’ve been outlining, some farmers, frankly, would like to just be left alone. Why isn’t that an option?
Nicole Ayache: Yeah, I think it’s very fair. I think everyone, farmers included, I feel like we get so many asks of our time, so many asks of us, and it’s reasonable to say, “Hey, this is a lot. I don’t know if I want to participate for different reasons.” And I think the thing to keep in mind is we all know we live in this hyper-connected world. Customers and consumers, they want information. They want to know what is happening to grow the food that they’re consuming. The dairy buyers and those retailers, they’re facing that increased scrutiny from consumers. So we can all acknowledge that for many farmers, they just want to farm. But for the supply chain for selling that milk and marketing that milk and being competitive in a global marketplace, it’s become table stakes to just provide some information on that great environmental stewardship story that we know farmers have.
So this isn’t something that the farm program or NMPF mandates. We don’t say farmers must participate, but the questions that are coming from customers, from those dairy buyers, those are coming. They’ve been coming for years and they’re going to come no matter what. So what we have in the farm program is a platform where dairy farmers are at the table in the governance. So we are in the driver’s seat to answer those questions coming from customers from the global marketplace in a way that makes the most sense for US dairy, rather than other programs just being dictated to us by those outside of our industry.
Alan Bjerga: What’s the single biggest misconception about FARM ES that you would like to clear up right now? Here’s your chance.
Nicole Ayache: We covered one of them. We covered the data privacy piece, but as I talk about customers, I realize one of the other misconceptions we get is that this whole thing, our whole program, that all we do is maybe listen to exactly what customers or consumers say we should do and ask farmers for. And that’s really not the case. So FARM ES, like the rest of the farm program, we’re grounded in science. We are science-based and outcomes-focused, not just going with whatever the whims are of the day of what may be asked for in the supply chain. Obviously, we need to pay attention to what customers and consumers care about, but the way we approach it is grounded in, again, that scientific evidence. It’s grounded in being size-neutral, geography-neutral, facility type-neutral. We’re not about being prescriptive and dictating what dairy farming should look like, but again, showcasing what’s going on using that scientific basis to help address concerns that customers or consumers might have.
Alan Bjerga: FARM ES is, of course, in light of that science, regularly updated. How do you see the program evolving?
Nicole Ayache: Yeah, something we’ve been thinking a lot recently as we’ve taken a new scientific model into FARM ES, as we’ve upgraded some of our platform is that what’s next question? And I mentioned earlier that some farms in the program have had the opportunity for getting incentives or funding for their participation in FARM ES, and that’s wonderful, but it’s probably not as many farmers as we’d like to see. And so as I think about the future, we have great recognition of the program, great participation, but would love to keep working with our participating organizations, with supply chain actors, with other partners to see how can we better support farmers, find new ways to financially support, to fund through technical assistance, whatever it might be, using FARM ES to help support their stewardship efforts.
Alan Bjerga: Anything we’ve missed?
Nicole Ayache: We think we’ve covered a lot today, but if anyone is interested in learning more about FARM ES, there’s a lot of information on our website at nationaldairyfarm.com. And farmers who are listening can also talk to their farm program evaluator or field staff for more info too.
Alan Bjerga: We’ve been speaking with Nicole Ayache, who leads the FARM program Environmental Stewardship pillar, among many things related to the FARM program. Thanks for joining us, Nicole.
Nicole Ayache: Thanks so much for having me, Alan.
Alan Bjerga: To learn more about the farm program, visit nationaldairyfarm.com. For more of the Dairy Defined Podcast, all you have to do is go to our website or go to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music, and search under the podcast name Dairy Defined. We’ll talk again soon.
