Meet Jer-Lindy Farms.

  • Building a buffer strip along the drainage in 2002, which runs the length of the farm and was then seeded with grass to ensure no runoff from the fields make it to the waterway, wetlands or pond. (MN state passed similar regulations for buffer strips in 2016, 14 years after Jer-Lindy Farms first implemented this practice.)

  • Using manure from the dairy as fertilizer as far back as 2003. This is a common practice allowing them to stop using commercial fertilizer and thus save costs.

  • Reducing electricity use and cost as a result of an off-peak hour program, high efficiency boilers, and LED lighting in the freestall barns, farmyard and inside the cheese plant.

  • Piping whey from the cheese plant back to the feed center, where it is mixed in and fed to the dairy cattle cuts down on both feed costs and waste.

  • Utilizing a weekly monitoring service to scan for weeds and harmful pests saving unnecessary herbicide and pesticide application.

  • Using a soil sampling method called “gridding,” which reduces the amount of lime applied to the alfalfa fields, only applying it in the areas where it is needed.