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Sustainability
IDF pro-actively supports a vibrant dairy sector committed to continuously improving its ability to provide safe and nutritious milk and dairy products from healthy animals to close the nutritional gap, whilst preserving natural resources and ensuring decent livelihoods across the whole dairy value chain.
IDF work focuses on developing and promoting sustainable practices across the dairy supply chain; providing science-based guidance and leadership on dairy sustainability issues to key international organizations and influencers, and increasing understanding that sustainability includes environmental, economic, social, and cultural components.
Recognising dairy’s contribution to sustainable development
IDF supports a vibrant dairy sector committed to adopting sustainable practices and ultimately being a key contributor to sustainable food systems.
- It is part of IDF’s mission to ensure that dairy is produced as sustainably as possible. We work with our members to engage dairy farmers, co-ops, companies and others in promoting the use of sustainable practices, and in developing tools and initiatives aimed at maximising positive and minimising negative impacts on dairy animals, the environment and communities.
- We provide science-based expertise that helps the sector produce safe and nutritious milk and dairy products from healthy animals, to preserving and enhancing natural resources, and ensuring decent livelihoods across the whole dairy value chain.
- IDF takes a leading role in sharing knowledge on innovative and eco-friendly dairy farming and dairy processing technologies that focus on high quality animal care, and encourages the industry to adopt energy-saving, low-carbon and water-efficient practices, minimising negative socioeconomic and environmental impacts.
- Ongoing activities and the latest initiatives to ensure sustainable dairy, including new approaches to agriculture, quality education, improved milk quality, development of rural areas through dairying, strong international cooperation, and climate commitment achievements are featured in IDF Dairy Sustainability Outlook publications.
The world’s population is growing. To be fit for the future, we must be innovative & ensure we have products that are culturally acceptable, nutritious, safe, sustainable & affordable.
Dairy's commitment to sustainable development
Meeting an increasing world population and fulfilling the UN Sustainable Development Goals requires nutrient dense food like dairy, along with engaged dairy farmers in various sustainable farming systems and a broad range of innovative technologies for production and processing.
The Dairy Declaration of Rotterdam is the commitment made by the sector to contribute to nutritious sustainable diets and livelihoods.
Related reports & publications
IDF provides a permanent source of authoritative scientific and other information on a whole range of topics relevant to the dairy sector.
Learn more about sustainability
The breadth of issues IDF covers in its work is extensive. Find out more about the work we do.
Dairy Declaration of Rotterdam
A formal commitment by the dairy sector to contribute to the achievement of key Sustainable Developm...
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Environment
The dairy sector takes its commitment to protecting the world's resources seriously.
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Nutrition & Health
Scientific evidence supports the importance of milk and dairy products as part of healthy diets
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