Listen: Sustainability in dairy 'more than just perception'

File Photo / Mark Mitchell

Content brought to you by Fonterra.

Some people would consider consumers increasingly wanting to know where their milk comes from as pressure, but Kelvin Wickham prefers to call it a "challenge".

Fonterra's Chief Operating Officer for NZMP told The Country Early Edition's Rowena Duncum, that more consumers want to know if their dairy choices are supporting a sustainable planet.

"I hear from customers, they're buying dairy ingredients [asking] are they pasture-raised? Are the cows cared for? They want non-GMO."

Listen below:

"I think a lot of our farmers are out there doing a tremendous amount of good work on the farm so how can we use that and support our staff, those customers and consumers out there?"

Fonterra's answer to this is a new programme for sustainability on-farm called the Co-operative Difference.

Wickham said the Co-operative Difference will help Fonterra connect what it is doing on-farm with what consumers are looking for.

"It's more than just perception. We want to have credited labelling and data to show how we produce dairy sustainably."

Also in today's interview: Wickham talked about a rise in farmer confidence and gives an update on Site Open Days in Te Rapa, Darfield and Edendale, and how the co-op has been helping farmers and community members clean up after the devastating flooding in West Coast.