Figure 1. A dairy farm south of Baraboo, Wisconsin. Image by Corey Coyle, accessed through WikiMedia Commons.

The quintessential image of the American dairy farm is composed of rolling hills covered in bright green grasses that catch golden light. Cows lazily roam a field that backs up to a bright red barn with neat white trim. What this picturesque image fails to capture is what is happening just below the surface.

Grasses have roots that gather water and nutrients for plant growth. They also prevent erosion and retain nutrients. On industrial farms, root systems do not really take hold because the land is continuously grazed. But, when farmers move cattle from one section of grass to another, native grasses can build root systems to prevent erosion.

This farming method is called rotational grazing. It’s what Lynn and Nancy Utesch use on their fifty cattle farm in Kewaunee, Wisconsin. Rotational grazing is a powerful tool for reducing agriculture’s contributions to climate change.

Figure 2. A model demonstrating rotational grazing in practice from the United States Department of Agriculture.

A 2018 study of Midwestern beef farms found that rotational grazing can reduce farms’ overall greenhouse gas emissions.  More carbon is retained by the soil, making it a sink for greenhouse gases released while cows digest their food, and while soil decomposes. The Utesch’s fifty cattle farm and their peers, an eighty cattle farm that is part of Tsyunhehkw, an Oneida nation community agricultural program, both utilize rotational grazing. Both farms also refrain from using pesticides that pollute the soil and water. 

Some farmers outside of Wisconsin also use rotational grazing. Stephanie and Blake Alexandre own the first “certified regenerative” dairy farm in Crescent City, California. After cows are milked they are moved to a new part of the pasture where they then graze and fertilize the soil with their manure. After they are moved to the next location, this newly fertilized soil is left to rest for 40-50 days.

While rotational grazing is good for the soil, the cows and the environment, solutions like rotational grazing are the exception, not the rule. Instead, solutions that maintain industrial scale operations continue to be propped up. Industrial agriculture produces the most milk per acre of land, which is why it is so widely embraced, and continues to be supported through government policies. On industrial farms, cows intensively graze the same plots of land, plants are sprayed with pesticides, and animal diets are supplemented with feed. Continued support for industrial agriculture prevents systemic changes that hold the potential to truly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and support small farmers.

In the world of industrial agriculture, the buzz about reducing greenhouse gas emissions often centers on capturing methane emissions. On October 26 I wrote about biofuel as a promising way to do so. But this method puts workers at risk, makes it even harder for small farms to stay open, and pollutes local air and bodies of water. In August 2022, U.S. Senators Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Edward Markey issued a letter to the USDA to investigate public health and environmental justice impacts of methane biodigesters. 

Further research on the effects of new agricultural technologies are necessary because often they are only band aid fixes for an overall broken agricultural system. If so-called solutions for problems in the industry end up causing more harm to workers and the humans, plants, and animals living around the farms, they need to be reconsidered. 

It is hard to center methods that prioritize the sustainability of the holistic environment in an industry and world that places profits above all else. But taking a more holistic approach might reveal that solutions that are good for workers and local farmers can also be good for the environment. But seeing the value in these strategies requires focusing more on gallons of milk or operating costs. It requires a prioritization of the health and future of America’s dairyland. 

In the case of Wisconsin dairy, where small farms have been closing and big farms have been expanding, turning to solutions that can be accessed by all sizes of farms–like rotational grazing–can help solve multiple of the industry’s problems. As Joe Maxwell, president of advocacy group Family Farm Action, told The Counter, agriculture advocates should stay focused on displacing “the failed food system that the industrial model has brought us—that doesn’t feed us, extracts wealth from rural communities, and whose whole driving force is greater yield regardless of the cost to the environment.” In Wisconsin, turning the focus back to the soil can help build a food system with fewer bankruptcies, better beef, and a healthier planet.