A trade publication called Dairy Herd Management published a story yesterday summarizing research by WSU professors and a Monsanto scientist who found dairies are much more environmentally friendly today than they were in 1944. Those who would romanticize the ‘40s are just plain wrong, the authors say. 

But Jean Mendoza, a nurse from White Swan, has asked the National Academy of Science to repudiate the claims of the authors, first published earlier this year in the Journal of Animal Science.

Citing U.S. Geological Survey research, Mendoza says the amount of water required today to remove manure from dairies is more than four times what it was in 1950. She maintains that the authors failed to consider the amount of water needed by modern dairies to manage their manure output.

— Leah Beth Ward