An industry that's been around for millennia, dairy farming is in the midst of an era of modernization. The world's population is growing at breakneck speed. This surge in growth combined with the increasingly pressing need to find renewable, sustainable methods for feeding the planet demands an evolution in farming techniques.

With improved technologies, as well as a fresh focus on sustainability and the ethical treatment of animals, a dairy farm like Fiscalini Farms is an exemplary model for the industry on a macro level.

"To feed the world, farmers like myself need to be on the cusp of convergence with innovation and sustainability," says Brian Fiscalini, a fourth-generation farmer at Fiscalini Farms, which is known for its sustainable practices.

The farm employs innovative technologies in order to maintain as sustainable a business as possible. Nothing from the land and the farming process goes to waste; they even harness electricity from cow manure to power the farm and neighboring towns, made possible by a system called a methane digester.

"All of our livestock manure, whey from the cheese plant and leftover feed and green waste are pumped into large heated tanks where bacteria break down the components and produce methane," explains Fiscalini, going on to elaborate that the methane is then piped to an internal combustion engine, which produces electricity and heat.

Sustainability has a very personal meaning for the Fiscalini family. "Like many farmers, I live on the farm. My family, my wife and my children breathe the air, drink the water, and live on the very same land the animals do," says Fiscalini. "Our philosophy is to harvest and forage our land to feed our cattle, and then give back to the earth in natural form to keep it productive."

Dairy farmers around the globe who share similar commitments to sustainability are working diligently to reduce the dairy industry's GHG emissions by 2020, using technologies like the methane digester found on the Fiscalini farm as well as solar and wind energy. The end goal is to generate the clean energy equivalent of eliminating nearly a million cars from the road for one year.