Press Release

Local Farmstead Cheese Company Receives Prestigious Aldo Leopold Conservation Award

November 22, 2013

Pt. Reyes Station, Calif. – Marin Agricultural Land Trust (MALT) is proud to announce that the Robert Giacomini Dairy, home to the Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company, was awarded the prestigious California Leopold Conservation Award this week. The award is given by the Sand County Foundation, the California Farm Bureau Federation and Sustainable Conservation to honor private landowner achievement in the stewardship and management of natural resources.

“The Giacomini family is a shining example of how landowners in California can have a huge impact on healthy landscapes, clean waterways and a clean-energy future,” said Ashley Boren, Executive Director of Sustainable Conservation. “Rotational grazing of their cows keeps soils healthy and helps prevent harmful erosion into Tomales Bay and the Point Reyes National Seashore, and their methane digester converts cow manure into clean, renewable energy that powers their dairy and cheese facility.”

Given in honor of renowned conservationist Aldo Leopold, the Leopold Conservation Award recognizes extraordinary achievement in voluntary conservation. In his influential 1949 book, A Sand County Almanac, Leopold called for an ethical relationship between people and the land they own and manage, which he called “an evolutionary possibility and an ecological necessity.”

Bob Giacomini and his daughters Karen, Diana, Lynn and Jill own and operate Robert Giacomini Dairy, which MALT permanently protected as farmland in 2005. According to Lynn, “Selling our easement to MALT gave us peace of mind that the land we continually work hard to protect, will thrive in agriculture in perpetuity.” Lynn currently serves on the MALT Board of Directors, following her father Bob who served on the board for many years.

The family started the Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company in 2000, which produces Point Reyes Original Blue, Bay Blue, Toma and fresh mozzarella cheeses. The cheeses are available at Bay Area grocery stores and direct from the Giacomini’s at farmers markets.

“This award is very well deserved,” says MALT Executive Director Jamison Watts. “The mark of an exceptional agricultural business is a capacity to greet new challenges and excel through continuous learning and improvement, integrity and an abiding respect for the natural and social environment. A walk around the Giacomini dairy is a lesson in inspired management of people, animals and natural resources. There is a palatable sense of pride, innovation and industry around every corner.”

Contact: Deirdre Holbrook, Director of Outreach and Communications, (415) 663-1158 ext. 315 or dholbrook@malt.org