Sweet smell of sustainability

Green Valley Dairy offers its neighbors an unexpected breath of fresh air. The 3,500-cow dairy, located near Krakow, Wis., is a winner of the U.S. Dairy Sustainability Award for Outstanding Achievement in Renewable Energy.

What started as a solution to odor from the farm now produces three products:

-       Methane gas: providing electricity to light nearly every home in nearby Pulaski

-       Fertilizer: nourishing the 8,300 acres of cropland it runs

-       Fiber bedding: padding stalls for its 3,500 cows

Green Valley Dairy was among the first dairies in the country to build anaerobic digesters, which heat manure until it breaks down into a biogas bubble used for electricity, leaving leftover liquids and solids used for fertilizer and cow bedding.

John Jacobs, first-generation dairyman and part owner of Green Valley Dairy, believes in being better before bigger. Watch his video on DairyGood.org to see what else he’s doing to leave his operation better than he found it for his children and grandchildren.