Greg Heidemann

Director, Dairy Operations

At our Maryland farm, a lot of our environmental efforts are focused on the Chesapeake Bay. It's a dynamic eco-system, and the whole area relies on it. That's why my team came to me with the idea of building a small dam to prevent rain run-off from turning a small tributary brown. One of the local environmental groups eventually came out to the farm to look at what we'd done. They asked us if we'd received any money to do the project. We told them no, nothing more than what we get from WhiteWave. “So you guys did this on your own,” they said. And I answered, “Absolutely.” They told us that no one in the area had done this before. We didn’t ask the government for money, or grants or any of that. We identified a problem that was affecting a lot of people, not just ourselves, and found a solution. That’s the kind of freedom and support we get from our company. They let us find our own way of becoming the earth’s favorite food company. That kind of trust and respect means a lot to us.