Innovation Mission to California: Sustainable Dairy

It was a huge pleasure to speak this week to the "Innovation Mission to California: Sustainable Dairy" jointly sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture of the Netherlands and the University of California, Merced.

Great to see the collaborative effort between the Netherlands and the state of California focusing on innovation across the food supply chain in order to address key challenges facing farmers and consumers.

The delegation from the Netherlands consisted of representatives of various dimensions of the Dutch agricultural supply chain including dairy farmers, universities, government, suppliers to the dairy industry and trade organizations.

Technology Showcase presentations were made by start-ups (including Vyla and EIO Diagnostics) and larger companies (including Lely and Royal Agrifirm Group) aimed at transformation of dairy efficiency and sustainability.

An amazing day that wrapped up with an exciting presentation of UC Merced research, led by Dr. Rebecca Ryals, on the subject of biochar usage in manure, accomplishing an 80% reduction in CO2. The UC Merced research was done in partnership with Verway Farms, a leading dairy farm in the Central Valley of California, and a Vyla advisory partner.

Real Research. Real Collaboration. A testimony to what we can accomplish together.

Many thanks to the UC Merced leadership including Chancellor Juan Sanchez Munoz, Gabriel Youtsey, Chief Innovation Officer at UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, and Dr. Joshua Viers, Campus Director, UC Merced, and to the government of the Netherlands, including Guido Landheer, Director, Ministry of Agriculture and the Netherlands Food Partnership, and Kees de Koning, Manager of Innovation Dairy Campus at Wageningen University, and to Mareese Keane, of Opengate, for her excellent work organizing the week.

Let's keep the collaboration going!

#innovation #sustainability #dairyfarming