At the outset of last month’s Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco—even before the release this week of a dire U.N. climate report—California Governor Jerry Brown made a bold announcement, setting a target for the state—the world’s fifth-largest economy—to achieve net zero emissions by 2045.
A years-long disagreement between cattle ranchers and conservation groups over which grazing animals should get precedence on the grasslands covering Point Reyes National Seashore — dairy cows or native Tule elk — took a step toward being settled on Tuesday, when the House of Representatives passed a bill in favor of the ranchers.
“We’re not for sale,” says Albert Straus, as pints of soft, mushy coffee ice cream come down the conveyor belt at Petaluma’s Straus Family Creamery.
Humans have been consuming cow’s milk since European dairy farmers developed a genetic adaptation that enabled them to digest lactase about 7,500 years ago.
Straus Family Creamery has a calling that goes well beyond being a successful manufacturer of organic dairy products.
The Straus Family has been producing milk in Marshall (Marin County) on Northern California’s scenic North Coast for nearly eight decades.
In October, news of a French butter shortage shook the food world to its croissant-shaped core. Prices tripled in France as consumers nervously hoarded caches.
The next generation of cold storage distribution and food processing plants boasts a future filled of automated equipment and energy efficient construction.
At the Straus Family Farm, next to Tomales Bay north of San Francisco, the feed truck that delivers food to nearly 300 dairy cows now runs on electricity generated from cow poop.
With barely a sound, the red and white International Harvester feed truck unloaded a mix of silage, barley and rice to a dozen pregnant cows, releasing a sour, grassy aroma into the foggy morning at Straus Family Creamery in Marshall.
Dairy farmer Albert Straus cares about cow farts so you don’t have to. Seriously. Straus is obsessed with the impact that bovine belches have on the environment.
The town of Marshall, where I have lived and farmed all my life, is becoming a ghost town. Less than 30 percent of its houses are now occupied by full-time residents.
The drought on America’s west coast is taking its toll on the dairy industry as around 100 dairy farms now go out of business each year waiting for rain.
In the two decades since the Straus Dairy in Marshall was the first in the West to become certified organic, most others in the region have followed, creating a cash cow that gets bigger every year.
