Happy Earth
Day!
Earth day is celebrated every year on April 22 to raise awareness about
the environment and pollution. At SMC, we believe that every day should be
Earth Day. Our farm’s commitment to agricultural sustainability has led us to establishing a goal of becoming a completely sustainable company.
The dairy
industry, along with the USDA, is committed to advancing their eco-friendly
sustainability practices. Over the next 10 years, they plan to reduce the
output of greenhouse gasses by 25 percent. This has been made possible thanks
to the USDA’s funding of approximately 25,000 environmental improvement
projects through grants.
Since 1944, resources to produce a gallon of milk have decreased. This includes 90 percent less cropland, 65 percent less water, and 63 percent less carbon. In the United States, agriculture occupies 51 percent of land, uses 80 percent of our water and is responsible for 8 percent of our greenhouse gas emissions.
SMC’s Totally Green
Practices
South
Mountain Creamery is committed to agricultural sustainability. Our goal is to
use our own resources to power the farm with a combination of bio-diesel, a methane digester, wind turbines, solar energy, and geothermal loops . In the past few years, SMC has
completed a number of tasks, with the help of grants and the Maryland Energy
Administration.
Soybean
Press: In 2013, SMC completed their project of installing a fully-operational
soybean press. A soybean press is a process of pressing soybeans to make our
own soybean meal for animal feed. The
byproduct of the pressing process is soy oil which we can convert into bio-diesel. The soybean oil is burned oil
in our diesel trucks at about 5%-10%.
Lighting: In
2014, SMC replaced all of the company’s lighting with LED lights. LED lighting is energy efficient and consumes up to 90% less power than incandescent bulbs. Since LED lights use only a fraction of the energy of an incandescent light
bulb and have a longer lifespan, there is a decreased amount of power usage, maintenance,
and replacement costs.
Refrigeration Units: With the help of MEA and SEDESCO, SMC replaced all of our refrigeration units with energy efficient refrigeration units, which reduced our energy usage by 50%-90%!
SMC is continuing to work on becoming a self-sustaining company with goals to install a Methane Digester, Wind Turbines, Solar Energy, and Geothermal Loops.
Other Eco-Friendly Practices:
Glass Bottled Milk: Our milk bottles are glass so they can be washed, sanitized, and reused!
Reusable Bags: The plastic bags used in our store and home delivery are biodegradable. Our friends at Gude Brothers also use eco-friendly bags for their produce bags, delivered to SMC daily.
Boonsboro Greenfest: Love sustainability? Join SMC at Boonsboro Greenfest on May 9 at Shafer Park in Boonsobor, MD! Visit their website fro more eco-friendly information.
Boonsboro Greenfest: Love sustainability? Join SMC at Boonsboro Greenfest on May 9 at Shafer Park in Boonsobor, MD! Visit their website fro more eco-friendly information.
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