ADA North East recently joined more than 20 volunteers from Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative, Turkey Hill Dairy and the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay to plant 300 trees on a dairy farm in Lancaster County, as part of an effort to promote on-farm riparian buffers. The Pennsylvania Dairy Promotion Program, working through ADA North East and in partnership with the other organizations, is sponsoring a public relations campaign around the program to build consumer awareness of dairy farmers’ commitment to sustainability and to protecting local waterways in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Planting trees along farm waterways helps keep water clean and improves quality in local streams that lead into the Bay.

We enlisted the help of former Philadelphia Eagle and dairy advocate Jason Avant to participate in the event to help amplify dairy farmers’ environmental commitment. The campaign will include advertising through social media outlets to boost consumer awareness, with messages from Avant and spokespersons for all organizations involved.

“Partnerships like these are perfect examples of how dairy farmers and other groups can come together to provide solutions to important environmental issues,” said Avant in a video clip.

Next week, another 1,000 trees will be planted on a Juniata County dairy farm as part of the environmental campaign.

Former Philadelphia Eagle and dairy advocate Jason Avant and Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative’s Janae Klingler discuss riparian buffer planting techniques.

Former Philadelphia Eagle and dairy advocate Jason Avant and the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay’s Ryan Davis plant a tree as part of the riparian buffer campaign to protect local waterways.