In 1941, one hour north of San Francisco, Bill Straus purchased a dairy farm in West Marin. Bill & Ellen Straus, early environmental activists and farmers with a steadfast commitment to be stewards of the land, stopped using herbicides in the mid-1970 and 1980s, and adopted other innovative farming practices. Their son, Albert Straus, a champion of climate-neutral organic dairy farming converted the farm to organic in 1994–the first certified organic dairy farm west of the Mississippi River. Albert founded Straus Family Creamery. The Creamery sources milk from twelve dairy farms, including Straus Dairy Farm, to produce 100% organic milk and cream, yogurt, ice cream, butter and sour cream for retail and foodservice.

Famous for their re-usable glass milk bottle program, Straus uses numerous techniques to move carbon from the atmosphere and put it back in the soil. Carbon farming builds nutrient rich soil, promotes soil health through rotational grazing, restores woodlands and streams, and mitigates climate change. They were the first dairy farm to develop a 20-year carbon farm plan in conjunction with the Marin Carbon Project. Ellen Straus demonstrated leadership in their community, co-founding the Marin Agricultural Land Trust (MALT) a pioneering model to protect farmland indefinitely; all 12 dairy farms that supply milk to the Creamery are on the path to being carbon neutral by 2030. 

Renewable energy is one of the focuses of the Straus Dairy Farm’s carbon neutral farming model. Their innovative methane digester captures methane (a potent greenhouse gas) from cow manure and transforms it into electricity. The methane digester provides enough renewable energy to power the entire dairy farm and charge farm vehicles!

More recently, Straus has teamed up with seaweed-supplement maker Blue Ocean Barns to supplement the dairy cows’ diet with a specific red seaweed.  Trials have shown this fodder can reduce methane-loaded cow burps by up to 90%! Learn more about the seaweed innovation in this 2-minute video.