Big announcement for Fonterra at Fieldays 2021

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Fonterra is at Fieldays again this year and is easy to find, as the co-op tent, along with a farmer-only area, are set up in the same location - on the corner of K and F streets.

Fonterra board members were in attendance, which gave farmers a chance to ask questions on the co-op's capital structure.

There was also the Good Together Tanker, which was full of stories about the co-op and its people and, for the adventurous types, a brand-new tanker driving simulator.

Importantly, there was an announcement made on Wednesday at Fieldays, about a new research initiative that Fonterra, along with DairyNZ and PGG Wrightson Seeds, had launched.

Called "The Plantain Potency and Practice programme," the initiative was to help dairy farmers improve freshwater quality through using plantain pastures.

The programme was all about finding ways to help farmers meet environmental goals, government regulations and market expectations, Fonterra managing director of co-operative affairs Mike Cronin explained.

Listen below:

"The idea of it is you use plantain pasture and it helps reduce nitrogen leaching - especially of - nitrogen-sensitive catchments - and DairyNZ are forecasting around about a 37 per cent reduction on current levels by about 2035, which is really good," he told The Country Sport Breakfast's Brian Kelly.

Plantain use was predicted to lead to flow-on benefits to national and regional economies, as farmers spent less on other nitrate leaching solutions.

"It could save them, I'd say a billion in the next decade. So we're pretty excited about it."

The research initiative was also backed by the Government, Cronin said.

"On Wednesday [at Fieldays] the Associate Agriculture Minister Hon Meka Whaitiri announced an $8.98 million Government grant over seven years, that's going to help us expand that programme."

The work would focus on proving plantain's effectiveness at reducing nitrate leaching, investigating regional effects and protecting the supply chain.

The programme will use PGG Wrightson Seeds' Ecotain environmental plantain which already had proven effectiveness, Cronin said.

"It's good to give our farmers confidence to keep investing in growing that sort of thing [plantain] all around New Zealand.

"So a lot of positive outcomes for farmers, for the environment, which is important, but for the New Zealand's economy as well."

It was also crucial for Fonterra's business, Cronin said.

"We know, to talk to our customers, that over 70 per cent are already saying that they want to see more around sustainability - and the numbers of those customers keeps rising and rising.

"It's good to see, and it's a good reminder down here at Fieldays - our farmers are out there as world leaders when it comes to sustainable milk production - and this is just another really good practical way of helping them on that journey."