A regular on The Weather Channel, earlier this week, dairy farmer, Tara Vander Dussen, also known as the New Mexico Milkmaid, joined live from her eastern New Mexico dairy to talk about the dairy industry’s commitment to reducing its carbon footprint.
“I find it extremely beneficial to go live on national media platforms,” the fifth-generation dairy farmer says. “As farmers, we often feel like it’s difficult to get our message out there or that our voices aren’t heard. So, when we have the opportunity and are invited to share, we should. This allows us the chance to connect with thousands, tens of thousands, and even hundreds of thousands of people.”
“Every time I go live on a media outlet, I am always pleasantly surprised by the messages I receive afterward. People from outside of agriculture message me about how much they enjoyed learning more about ag and how they are happy they could start following me on social media. People want to know more about where their food comes from, and how it’s grown and produced. I see it as part of our job to share with them.”
Vander Dussen holds a degree in environmental science from the University of Arizona and after that, she moved back to New Mexico, got married and began working as an environmental scientist. Vander Dussen and her husband, Daniel, along with their two young daughters, live and work on their family-owned dairy, which is home to nearly 2,000 cows.
The New Mexico dairy farmer shared that there are a lot of exciting things happening in the world of technology for dairy cows.
“Dairy farmers are working with scientists across the world on all sorts of different technology in order to reduce our methane emissions,” she says.
Vander Dussen explained that reducing methane on the farm is indeed important, as agriculture can be one of the solutions to reduce our climate problem.
“Actually, we’re looking into what we could feed the cattle to reduce methane,” she shares. “If we could reduce methane in the ruminant, that would really help reduce methane, as well as a lot of other things.”
Vander Dussen is currently installing solar panels and by year’s end, their barn will be fully solar-powered.
“There are so many different ways to help reduce emissions on the farm and I feel like not everyone has to do everything, but if everyone did something, we could really make a big difference,” she says. “I know dairy farmers are doing that.”
