The Dairy Alliance has launched Portraits of Modern Dairy: Southern Stories, a campaign spotlighting Oakmulgee Dairy in Virginia and its six generations of Moyer family farmers who are combining tradition with renewable energy and environmental stewardship. The campaign, running from November 2026 through January 2027, will share the farm's story through video, social media content, and educational graphics, according to the announcement.
Oakmulgee Dairy is Virginia's oldest continuously operating family dairy. Its story centers on a partnership with Vanguard Renewables to use anaerobic co-digestion, a process that converts dairy cow manure and inedible food and beverage waste from local businesses into renewable natural gas. The process captures methane from organic material for use as energy while diverting food waste from landfills. The project's estimated annual environmental benefits include diverting nearly 115,000 tons of food waste from landfills and greenhouse gas reductions equivalent to removing more than 14,000 gasoline-powered vehicles from the road. The process also recovers nutrients from organic materials, recycling them into natural fertilizer used on farmland to support crop production.
"For the Moyer family, investing in new technology is part of caring for a farm that has been passed down through several generations," said Farrah Newberry, CEO of The Dairy Alliance. "Through 'Portraits of Modern Dairy: Southern Stories' we're showing consumers how dairy farmers are turning challenges into opportunities, from transforming waste into renewable energy to helping keep family farming viable for the next generation."
The campaign matters because it offers a concrete example of how dairy farms can address environmental concerns while maintaining family ownership. As consumers and regulators increasingly focus on agriculture's climate impact, the Moyer family's investments in solar power, nutrient stewardship, and waste-to-energy technology demonstrate a path that could be replicated by other farms in the Southeast. The Dairy Alliance, a nonprofit funded by dairy farm families across eight states, is using the campaign to bring consumers closer to the farmers behind real dairy through stories about daily work, environmental practices, and evolving technology.
For the dairy industry, the campaign highlights a potential model for long-term viability: pairing traditional farming with renewable energy projects that generate new revenue and reduce emissions. For readers, the story illustrates how local food waste and manure can be transformed into usable energy and fertilizer, with measurable environmental benefits. The campaign content will introduce consumers to the people behind the farm and explain how anaerobic co-digestion works. To learn more about Portraits of Modern Dairy: Southern Stories and follow the stories of Southeast dairy farm families, visit The Dairy Alliance.
