increase font size
Carolyn Mortland Head of Sustainability Fonterra and Chris Anderson Merchandise Manager Chilled Beverages Foodstuffs North Island.
Fonterra has joined forces with a supermarket chain to deliver what it claims is NZ’s first carbon zero milk.
Simply Milk, a joint project between Fonterra and Foodstuffs North Island, hit supermarket shelves last week. It is now available in New World, Pak’n’Save and Four Squares in the North Island.
Simply Milk has been certified carbonzero through the purchase of carbon credits from Toitū Envirocare, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research, a Government-owned crown research institute. The carbon credits relate to projects undertaken both in New Zealand and overseas. These have then been used to offset the carbon emissions of making the milk.
Carolyn Mortland, director global sustainability at Fonterra, says Simply Milk is a good example of how co-op’s strategy is putting sustainability at the heart of everything it does.
“With Simply Milk we have a practical way to demonstrate their support for the environment,” she claims
“It will enable us to support the regeneration of 7.5 square kilometres of native forest near Kaikoura, as well as renewable energy programmes in overseas markets where Fonterra sells its products.”
Foodstuff’s Chris Anderson says it’s becoming increasingly important to customers to know where their food comes from and that it’s being produced sustainably.
“It’s really exciting to be bringing this first to New Zealand. Simply Milk offers customers the opportunity to purchase their everyday milk and know their choice is making a difference to something that’s really important to them,” says Anderson.
Toitū Envirocare chief executive Becky Lloyd says the carbonzero accreditation process firstly evaluates the carbon emissions of making the milk, right from the farm via store fridge to the customer’s home. The product’s footprint includes farming, production, distribution – as well as eventual consumption and disposal.
Fonterra and Foodstuffs North Island then worked with Toitū to identify projects to offset the emissions.
“We apply a thorough set of principles to determine if a given carbon credit project is real, reliable and meets our quality standards,” says Lloyd.
“Reaching net zero by 2050 requires all New Zealand businesses to start measuring and reducing their emissions now.”
In the past, much has been made of the concept of farm to fork, but an Australian expert in food science and marketing with experience in the dairy industry, Dr Angeline Achariya, says the reverse of this slogan is critical to win modern day consumers.
A four year trial has reaffirmed that mixing plantain into dairy pastures can help reduce nitrogen losses to freshwater while maintaining milk production and profitability, say researchers.
Fonterra has opened its upgraded Chengdu Application Centre, bringing New Zealand dairy expertise closer to customers in one of China's fastest-growing regions.
Tatua chair Stephen Allen says he leaves the co-op with a deep sense of gratitude for the people who have contributed to its success.
Federated Farmers president Colin Hurst and his family raised a glass of milk last week to toast the start of a new addition to their farming operation at Makihihi, south of Timaru.
Four years since it was first detected in New Zealand, researchers and growers now know much more about management of maize pest fall armyworm (FAW).
The Government has announced it will pause key parts of Waikato Plan Change 1 (PC1) in a decision that is set to give Waikato farmers a reprieve from new consenting and farm-planning requirements while the wider resource management system is overhauled.
OPINION: The time has come for the Government to back the organic sector.
Plan ahead and be patient. That’s the message to farmers and horticulturalists from the chairman of the NZ Agricultural Aviation Association, Kent Weir.
The industry is crying out for graduates with agricultural related degrees.
While GPS and guidance have become the norm and yield mapping and variable application continues to gain traction, most agricultural machinery manufacturers continue to expand their technology offerings, amalgamating the vast amounts of data being collected to streamline real-time and ongoing management decisions.
OPINION: After hogging the media limelight for telling a NZ Chinese MP to "go back home", Winston Peters has decided…
OPINION: With fuel prices soaring, one would have expected most farmers to be reclaiming excise duty on petrol.
