Farmer Jeremy Brown taps the nose of a young calf. "I love the ones with the pink noses," he says. This pink-nosed animal is just one of about 3,200 cattle at Twin Birch Dairy in Skaneateles, New York. In Brown's eyes, the cows on the farm aren't just workers: "They're the boss, they're the queen of the barn."
Brown, a co-owner at Twin Birch, is outspoken on the importance of sustainability in his operation. The average dairy cow emits as much as 265 pounds (120 kilograms) of methane, a potent climate-warming gas, each year. Brown says Twin Birch has worked hard to cut its planet-warming emissions through a number of environmentally sound choices.
"Ruminants are the solution, not the problem, to climate change," he said. Wearing a weathered hoodie and a hat promoting a brand of cow medicine, Brown was spending a windy Friday morning artificially inseminating some of the farm's massive Jerseys and Holsteins. He stepped over an electric manure scraper used to clean the animals' barn.
John Bolton, owner of Bolton Farms in Hilton, New York, said he has some reservations about organic certification, but he's pursuing it for his hydroponic farm, which grows produce in nutrient-rich water instead of soil. It produces greens such as kale and chard and is popular as a supplier for restaurants in western New York, and draws waves of regular customers at the Rochester Public Market on weekends.
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