Dairy Soil and Water Regeneration

Overview

The goal of the US Dairy Net Zero Initiative is to bring the dairy industry to greenhouse gas neutrality and improve water use and quality, but data are sparse on how to manage the feed production systems to help achieve these goals. The Dairy Soil and Water Regeneration project will collect data for six years to determine dairy farms’ greenhouse gas footprint and soil health in response to soil health management practices and new manure-based products. In addition, dozens of dairies in the common soil types in the major production regions of the US will participate in a baseline survey of soil health and carbon storage.

Learn more about our work to provide a baseline for soil carbon sequestration and soil health.

The project will be executed across four dairy regions responsible for about 80 percent of U.S. milk production: Northeast, Lakes, Mountain, and Pacific. It entails a collaboration of NZI, the Soil Health Institute, and leading dairy research institutions on the map below.

Dairy Soil & Water Regeneration. Building soil health to reduce GHG, improve water quality and enable new economic benefits.

Learn more about how we are using data collected in this project to inform biophysical models.


Funders

DSWR is being completed with the generous support of the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research. The FFAR grant will be matched by financial contributions from NZI partners such as Nestlé, the dairy industry, including Newtrient, and in-kind support for a total of $23.2 million.