In its 2022 Sustainability Report, Aurora Organic Dairy provides a comprehensive and transparent update on its sustainability performance over the last three years.
Highlights include:
-A commitment to regenerative land management on company-owned farms to act on climate change through holistic farming practices, no-till and intensive rotational grazing, which sequesters carbon while supporting soil health, water resilience and nutrient density.
-For the second year in a row, Aurora Organic Dairy achieved its 100 percent carbon-neutral energy goal for company operations, which was validated by an independent third-party.
-Achieved Where Food Comes From CARE Certification, a sustainability standard for the dairy industry, which requires each of Aurora Organic Dairy’s company-owned farms to be audited for animal welfare standards, environmental practices and worker care criteria.
-Partnered with universities to evaluate organic feed additives’ ability to reduce enteric methane emissions.
-Increased its commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion with 38 percent of supervisory and management positions being held by women, a 10-percentage point increase from 2019.
Aurora Organic Dairy’s herd grazes on more than 15,000 acres of organic pasture across its company-owned dairy farms in Colorado and Texas. Through the purchase of organic feed, bedding and other commodities for its animals, the Company supports an additional 75,000 acres of organic farmland operated by more than 100 independent farmers. With this scale, Aurora Organic Dairy aims to positively impact more animals, people and the planet with its commitment to animal welfare, employee care and environmental stewardship.
The Company made considerable progress toward its key Planet Goals during the reporting period, even with pandemic-related challenges. In addition to achieving its carbon-neutral energy goal in 2020 and 2021, Aurora Organic Dairy also made progress toward its greenhouse gas emissions, water and solid waste reduction goals. With a commitment to acting on climate change across its company-owned dairy farms and milk processing plants, Aurora Organic Dairy aims to reduce its environmental impacts and aspires to help protect, renew and restore the planet’s resources while delivering benefits to its business, animals, people and communities.
With challenges related to the pandemic and climate change-related severe weather events in its operating communities during the reporting period, Aurora Organic Dairy bolstered its support of people and communities. Named a 2022 Top Workplace in the U.S., employees demonstrated their appreciation for the commitment Aurora Organic Dairy continues to make to its people.
“The last three years have demonstrated Aurora Organic Dairy’s commitment to its mission and values more than any other time in our 46-year history,” said Scott McGinty, chief executive officer. “During a global pandemic, as an essential business, we continued our 24/7 operations. We produced and delivered more milk than ever, which kept dairy cases stocked when consumers needed healthy organic food the most. Throughout it all, our first priority has been to invest in the health and safety of our Aurora Organic Dairy family.”
The Company’s sustainability goals include many initiatives upon which the company measures its sustainability performance. Aurora Organic Dairy’s 2022 Sustainability Report provides a transparent update on progress toward the achievement of the Company’s Animals, People and Planet goals.
“We understand our dairy farms are a complete system, and everything we do contributes to milk quality,” said Dr. Juan Velez, chief agriculture officer. “From the quality of the pasture and organic feed provided to our dairy cows, to the cleanliness of our facilities and how we care for our animals, it is an interconnected system that brings harmony to our animals, people and planet.”
