FrieslandCampina will make an additional annual investment of €24 million to stimulate sustainable development on the dairy farms of its farmer members.
The higher dairy farmers score within the company’s Foqus Planet sustainability programme, the higher the financial contribution they receive.
Foqus Planet measures, among other things, the environmental impact of a dairy farm, greenhouse gas emissions, nitrogen soil balance, ammonia emissions and permanent grassland, and also animal welfare and health.
The members of FrieslandCampina can see how they score on the various components. The number of points in combination with the amount of milk supplied influence, among other things, the supplement.
“FrieslandCampina wants to lead with sustainability, and we aim for a carbon-neutral chain,” said Hein Schumacher, CEO of FrieslandCampina. “That is hard work and that is what our members do. Already in 2014, they opted to encourage each other to achieve even better sustainability performance, and paying the best performers the most out of it. So, they have been improving in the field of sustainability for years and that is already leading to good results.
“To further stimulate this, we pay out an additional €24 million per year for sustainability efforts. And because we monitor how well our members are doing in a variety of areas at the farm level – from emissions of various greenhouse gases to animal welfare – we can also reward very specifically.
“If our customers continue to invest in this as well, such as through the higher contribution in the Netherlands for On the way to PlanetProof dairy, our members can improve even further.”
In 2019, FrieslandCampina invested more in sustainability projects on farms, financed in part by the extra price that retailers were asked to pay for dairy products under the On the way to PlanetProof sustainability mark.
The company announced plans last year to make 100% of its packaging recyclable by 2025.
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