MilTrim Farms is water steward
River Alliance of Wisconsin and The Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) North America announced today that Miltrim Farms, Inc.—a large dairy farm west of Athens— is the first farm in the nation to certify its on-site water stewardship practices using the International Water Stewardship Standard (AWS Standard). The AWS Standard has already been adopted by major industry players, including MillerCoors, but it had not previously been applied to individual farming operations in North America until now.
River Alliance of Wisconsin’s Clear Water Farms program guides agricultural production and processing facilities through a AWS Standard certification process, which concludes with a thirdparty audit. Agricultural producers and processors, like other businesses, benefit from Clear Water Farms participation and AWS certification by being able to quantify the benefits of water stewardship and attract upstream consumers who are also attempting to achieve these goals.
“Miltrim Farms is thrilled to be the first farm to be AWS certified through the Clear Water Farms program. We want to see this become standard practice for the industry.
One of our big goals is to lower our environmental footprint per cow, as well as focus on lowering our total energy consumption per cow. We want to invest in and care for the water, land and community around us. The Clear Water Farms program helps us meet these goals,” said David Trimner, general manager at Miltrim Farms.
“Farms like Miltrim are leading the way to the solution to our water crisis. AWS certification through the Clear Water Farms Program shows producers how to cut costs, help the environment and strengthen local communities,” stated Raj Shukla, executive director, River Alliance of Wisconsin.
“Clear Water Farms is scaling up by recruiting additional farms and agricultural processors in critical Wisconsin watersheds,” said Michael Tiboris, Clear Water Farms director at River Alliance of Wisconsin. “With more sites we will be able to measure both environmental and economic benefits, and really assess whether this model can work at a state or national level.”
“Miltrim is leading the way for farms across North America because what we learn in Marathon County, AWS will apply with its partners to other farms in the U.S., Canada and Mexico,” said Matt Howard, director for AWS North America. “This partnership with Miltrim and River Alliance of Wisconsin is a great demonstration that Wisconsin can be a leader on water quality improvement and farm community economic development nationally.”
