FDBusiness.com

In 2011, Royal FrieslandCampina took important steps worldwide to improve the sustainability of the business in the 26 countries where the company is active and in the co-operative’s 14,400 dairy farms in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium. The sustainability programme is one of the pillars of FrieslandCampina’s route2020 strategy that is aimed at growth and value creation.

Cees ’t Hart, chief executive of Royal FrieslandCampina, comments: “There will be an increased need for nutritionally rich food in the future. Milk and dairy can play an important role here provided, of course, that we focus our efforts on further reducing the environmental consequences of our chain. These include greenhouse gasses, water and energy consumption and the deterioration of biodiversity.”

The year 2011 centred on the creation of a support base among member dairy farmers who not only contributed to but agreed to the development of the ambitious programme for sustainable dairy farming.

Among the targets for 2020 are a 30 per cent reduction in greenhouse gasses, cutting the use of antibiotics to the 1999 level, 100 per cent sustainable use of soy in cattle feed from 2014 and maintaining the current level of outdoor grazing. In addition to support through training, FrieslandCampina stimulates outdoor grazing by allocating Eur45 million annually for this purpose. Dairy farmers whose cattle graze for a minimum of six hours a day, 120 days a year receive Eur0.50 per 100 kilos of milk. In the spring of 2012, not only was Campina milk from pasture-fed cows available in shops but also Milner cheese, Vifit and Optimel made using pasture-fed milk.

In 2011, the organisation took important follow-up steps in the sustainable procurement of raw materials such as soy (meal) for cattle feed, palm oil, cocoa and FSC-certified packaging materials. FrieslandCampina received the Product Board CSR Award for its sustainable palm oil purchasing policy and for Appelsientje it received the FSC prize for the use of sustainable packaging material. This was achieved thanks to close cooperation with suppliers and clients in the area of sustainability. ISO 26000 certification was also obtained for corporate social responsibility.

Steps were taken locally too, including initial efforts to reduce the sugar, salt and fat content of products. Many FrieslandCampina products are available in a light variety. The development of uniform labelling was yet another such step. The new labelling standard will be completed in 2012.

In co-operation with a number of renowned research institutes, a study of nutritional habits was launched in Southeast Asia under the name SEANUTS. The results will be presented in the autumn of 2012. In Thailand, a dairy publicity campaign was also initiated whereby health teams visited 1,700 locations with more than 500,000 visitors. Another 1,600 events are being organised at schools.