When you think about the science of dairy farming, you may think about cow genetics or feed formulation, but what about environmental stewardship? This includes things like manure management, cow comfort, and greenhouse gas reduction—all aspects of farming that continue to grow in importance.
For Cornell dairy researchers, environmental stewardship is synonymous with the Dairy Environmental Systems (DES) group, an agricultural engineering team with expertise in biosystems and mechanical engineering. DES is part of Cornell PRO-DAIRY, which supports the dairy industry in New York state.
While agricultural engineering was part of PRO-DAIRY since the mid 1990’s, DES was established in the early 2000’s, expanding from a focus on manure storage and cow comfort, to manure management, and water and air quality more broadly. Originally part of what is now called the Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering, DES ultimately became part of the Animal Science Department around 2018.
“Our group might seem like we don’t totally fit in animal science,” said Jason Oliver, senior extension associate and PRO-DAIRY dairy environmental systems engineer. “But were brought in because we work on production agriculture, which in New York state means dairy.”