Dairy Grazing Alliance

As part of our work, DGA is developing a grass-fed dairy standard designed to strengthen opportunities for U.S. dairy farmers. This includes supporting a credible and growing grass-fed dairy market and providing greater clarity around what “grass-fed” means.

​

Why a Standard Is Needed

Many mid-sized dairy farms are in an increasingly difficult position. They are often too large to rely on direct-to-consumer markets, yet lack the scale to compete effectively in the conventional commodity system.

 

Grass-fed dairy offers another path for farmers in the middle.

 

Growing consumer interest in grass-fed dairy is creating an opportunity to meet more U.S. demand with milk produced by U.S. dairy farmers. For farms using highly managed, pasture-based systems, a stronger grass-fed market can provide a way to differentiate their milk and be rewarded for the management their farming system requires.

 

To realize this opportunity, DGA believes the sector needs greater consistency around what “grass-fed” means. Today, grass-fed definitions vary widely in the U.S., making it difficult for the supply chain and consumers to know what the term actually means. We need a baseline standard with meaningful grazing and forage requirements that helps protect the integrity of a grass-fed claim and works economically for farmers and the marketplace.

 

A credible, workable standard can provide greater consistency for farmers, processors, brands, retailers and consumers while supporting long-term market opportunity for U.S. dairy farms.

​

Why DGA?

As a farmer-led organization with deep roots in managed dairy grazing, DGA is well positioned to lead this effort.

 

Through Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship, the Managed Grazing Innovation Center, research and data initiatives, partnerships and market development, DGA works across the dairy grazing sector, from the farm level to the marketplace.

 

This work is not happening in isolation. Development of the standard is being informed by our community of farmers and others across the dairy supply chain, with the goal of creating something that is rigorous, practical and valuable to the sector as a whole.

​

Our Vision for the Standard

Our goal is to create a standard that works first on the farm: for the land, the animals, the people doing the work and the economics that keeps the system viable.

 

From there, it can become a trusted foundation for a stronger grass-fed dairy market within the broader dairy sector, including credible claims, regional processing and long-term opportunity for mid-sized U.S. dairy farmers.

 

DGA looks forward to sharing more as this work progresses. Check back for updates as the standard moves toward launch.