Increasing Efficiency of Nutrient Use to Enhance Profit and Environmental Stewardship

The efficiency of converting feed to milk in the US has doubled over the past 60 years (VandeHaar and St-Pierre, 2006). With increasing efficiency, we have decreased the amount of greenhouse gasses produced per pound of milk and the amount of wasted protein. Further improvement is essential to feeding a human population that is expected to increase from 6 to 9 billion in the next 40 years while at the same time reducing our environmental footprint and keeping farms profitable. Few Americans today understand how food is produced and the synergy between productivity, efficiency, stewardship of resources, reduction of waste, and profitability. Those of us in agriculture must do a better job of helping others to understand our industry so that technological innovations can continue to improve efficiency and environmental stewardship.