We’ve been taking action directly at the farm level to make our communities more sustainable. So come on in, get comfy, and discover what Sustainable Milk From Around The Corner truly means. Learn why our dairy is different from anything else on your shelf, how we’re working to actively reduce our carbon footprint, and how we plan to achieve greenhouse gas neutrality by 2050.
This is dairy done sustainably. This is milk for your community. This is Maola.
At Maola, we like to start small & think big. We’re always thinking about the earth, but when it comes to our products, closeness between farm & shelf is a must, not only because it’s fresher for you, but because it’s better for our environment too.
The milk that we give our families is the same milk that we share with our communities, so when you see Maola in your refrigerated aisle, you know it was produced & packaged as close as 40 miles away from where you’re standing.
In 2021, each lb of Maola Milk generated 1.108 lbs of CO2e, which is lower than the industry average of 1.175. You can taste the difference that short distance makes as we continue to seek out more ways to reduce our footprint and become more efficient.
Maola is made in your community, for your community, and (as always) with the whole world in mind. Nutritious, delicious, and so Maola good (for you and the community)!
These projects include practices like new animal housing, improving areas on farm that might see heavy erosion, and planting thousands of trees to form riparian buffers.
The dollars that go into projects like these don’t come from the price of your milk. Instead, they come from our partners up and down the supply chain. In fact, Maola dairy farmers have joined thouasands of other dairy farmers and dairy companies across the country in vowing to become greenhouse gas neutral by 2050.
Maola Local Dairies will always champion socially responsible, economically viable and environmentally sound dairy farm practices because it’s the right thing for our farmers, the right thing for our communities, and the right thing for you.
On farms, crops are what farmers grow in those big fields. The crop could be one of a dozen different product, but corn, alfalfa and soybeans are some of the most popular.
Crops take their nutrients from the the soil to grow big and strong.
But the nutrients don’t go away when the crops are harvested. Instead, they could runoff to surrounding areas.
That’s why some Maola farmers practice cover cropping. Cover crops are planted right after the main crop is harvested and keep using those nutrients in the “off-season.” This helps keep nutrients in the ground and prevents them from getting in places they don’t belong. On top of that, it helps the next year’s main crop because it lessens the need for additional fertilizer.
An anaerobic digester is one tool that some Maola farms have to help your milk become a sustainable solution.
The anaerobic digester takes waste items like manure and food waste that would otherwise be discarded and actually turns it into a valuable resource.
This has two advantages. The first is the process keeps potentially harmful gases like methane out of the atmosphere. The second is that it actually creates a natural gas that can be reused as a fuel source for the farm, vehicles, or even residential homes.
No-till farming is a practice that helps Maola farmers keep sustainability out in front.
Traditionally, farmers plowed their fields before planting crops. But with no-till farming, Maola dairy farmers leave the field unplowed and simply plant in the field “as-is” when it’s time for a new season.
Leaving the soil undisturbed helps it retain nutrients and prevents soil erosion. No-Till farming goes hand-in-hand with cover cropping as well. Together, they are a series of farming practices that have actually been in many Maola farmer’s toolbox for decades!
Cows poop. There’s no getting around that. And a lot of times, that waste is accused of contributing to Earth’s greenhouse gases.
But in reality, cow manure is an important part of the farming cycle. That manure has important nutrients in it that help crops grow. The crops then feed the cows who make the milk and then repeat the process.
Some Maola farms will inject the manure straight into a field as opposed to spreading it more widely on top of the soil. This is a more sustainable practice since it prevents nutrients from running into local waterways and keeps it where it can do the most good for the crop growing cycle.
Riparian buffers are one of the most impactful ways our Maola dairy farmers can bring sustainable solutions to their farms and their communities.
Riparian buffers place trees, shrubs and other live plants near streams and waterways. This action helps keep nutrient runoff away from these local tributaries, which in turn helps waterways tens or even hundreds miles away.
Thousands of trees have been planted on local Maola farms to help protect the nation’s largest estuary, the Chesapeake Bay. Our local dairy farmers are leading the charge to make their farms more sustainable by allowing these important buffers to become part of their landscape for years to come.
Every year, we perform a specified number of Environmental Assessments across our farms to understand our environmental impact.
Our trained assessors use this data to measure the carbon and energy footprint of our entire milk supply.
This figure helps us discover more efficient ways to use the land’s resources and discover new ways to work towards achieving a greenhouse gas neutral milk supply by 2050.
Our dairy farm families have been award-winning in their work to become more sustainable.
Two Maola Local Dairies farms have been recognized by the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy as Outstanding Dairy Farm Sustainability recipients.
On top of that, we’re proud that we have been awarded similar kudos from the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy. In 2020, we earned the Outstanding Supply Chain Collaboration Award for our work with Turkey Hill Dairy and the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay.
Two years later, we earned the Sustainability Award for Outstanding Community Impact, which honors groups that improve lives and communities through positive impacts on health and wellness, hunger relief, workforce development, community volunteering and investment, and/or environmental stewardship.
Maola dairy farmers are ready, able, and willing to be part of solutions that create healthier cows, healthier communities, and a healthier planet.
Learn about The Gray Family, who earned the 2022 Outstanding Dairy Farm Sustainability Award from the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy.
We’ve created innovative ways at getting the entire supply chain involved in our Earth-friendly practices.
Alongside our retail partners at Giant Food and our environmental expert partners at the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, we brought Giant customers onto Virginia farms in 2023 to help plant a Riparian Buffer. The effort connected consumers to where their food comes from and helped a local Maola family farm protect a local waterway, which eventually leads to the Chesapeake Bay.
Every Maola purchase gives back to your community by helping Chesapeake Bay farmers to actively reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and achieve their sustainability goals. When farmers are able to put more sustainable practices in place, the Chesapeake Bay Area becomes an even better, more sustainable place not only today, but for future generations to come.
We’re able to make our Chesapeake Bay healthier, happier, & more sustainable by implementing soil conservation practices such as no-tilling and cover crops, which help make our soil and water supply happier & healthier too. Our friends at the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay partner with us to help us farm smarter and more sustainably—for you, for our community, for our cows, and for our earth.
Each Maola farm is required to meet or exceed the standards set in the Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM) program. The FARM program is plan that helps layout guidelines for dairy farmers that covers three main areas of best practices.
The FARM program specifically guides farmers in how to care for their animals.
Each Maola dairy farmer cares a lot about their cows. Many of our Maola farmers call their cows their family. And like any other family member, certain needs are always met. Things like food, shelter and medical care are covered in the guidelines. Each farm is required to have a veterinarian that oversees the medical needs of the cows.
The FARM Animal Care program is one way we’re ensuring that our farms remain sustainable into the future!
The FARM program specifically guides farmers and industry partners on how to measure environmental conservation.
Each year, some Maola farms go through an environmental assessment via the FARM program. The assessment helps capture a bigger picture of what Maola farms are doing to reduce the impact on the Earth.
Thanks to modern and innovative dairy farming practices, producing a gallon of milk in 2017 required 30% less water and 21% less land and had a 19% smaller carbon footprint than it did in 2007.
The FARM program specifically guides farmers in how to manage and train their employees.
Some Maola dairy farms have employees outside of the farm owner. The Workforce Development aspect of the FARM program helps to set baselines for training for employees. Employees are given instructions on proper animal care and how to stay safe on the farm.
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