A pilot programme between Fonterra and Nestlé to help farmers reduce on-farm emissions has shown a decrease in emissions intensity by more than 5% on average across the project’s first year.
Known as the GHG Farmer Support Pilot, it sees participating Fonterra supplying farms provide additional data from their farming operation on an annual basis. Using this data the Co-op can support farmers to develop action plans to improve on-farm efficiency and lower emissions intensity.1
In 2022/23 the first group of 48 farms in the GHG Farmer Support Pilot achieved an average 5.2% reduction in emissions intensity, compared to their 2021/22 season baseline. Key results2 show:
- a 9.3% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions
- a 4.9% reduction in nitrous oxide emissions
- a 0.8% reduction in methane emissions.
The decreases are mainly linked to changes in the types of feed purchased3 and used on the project farms and lower use of nitrogen-based fertilisers.4
In addition to the first group of 48 farmers in the GHG Farmer Support Pilot, there are another 58 farmers enrolled for the second group. Data from the 2022/23 season will act as their baseline.
As the programme progresses, it will identify actions to support emissions efficiency on farm and the learnings, tools and services will be shared wider across the Co-op to support the Co-op’s and Nestlé’s emissions reduction goals.
Fonterra’s Director of Sustainability, Charlotte Rutherford says the project is an example of how the Co-op is partnering with others to help achieve shared ambitions.
“The work we are doing with Nestlé to find ways to reduce on-farm emissions is starting to reap benefits, supporting both the Co-op’s and Nestlé’s climate commitments and goals.
“We’ve made a strategic choice to be a leader in sustainability and we aspire to be net zero by 2050, with 2030 targets including a 30% intensity reduction in on-farm emissions. We’re pleased with these preliminary results and look forward to seeing what additional insights can be identified as we add data from the next group of farms to the mix."
“Nestlé has ambitious plans and we look forward to continuing to work together to help our farmer owners build on the already good base they have.”
Nestlé New Zealand CEO Jennifer Chappell says Nestlé is also pleased with the initial results.
“These reductions give us confidence that Fonterra farmers are committed to helping Nestlé achieve our emissions targets. In turn, we will continue supporting farmers to develop new ways to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.”
Farmers sharing with other farmers what works for them and what doesn’t is also an important part of the project. To help facilitate this, Fonterra recently organised a two-day tour and workshop for Southland and Otago project farmers to visit other farms involved in the GHG Pilot and learn from experts. This was a great opportunity for collaboration and discussion and many farmers said they came away even more energised to progress their emissions reduction work.
What farmers are saying about the GHG farmer support pilot
“This project is great as it gives an outside perspective of your farm that can help identify ways to reduce your carbon footprint that you may not have thought about or considered. I take my hat off to Nestlé because as a huge multi-national company, and along with the extra payment through The Co-operative Difference, the direct and pro-active support they are giving to farmers on the ground is awesome,” says Jason Christensen, Central Districts.
“We’ve got two of our farms involved in the project and we would have all of them included if we could. The quality of the insights from the data we provide is great, so you know the benchmarking is accurate. We’ve learned heaps and the tailored farm-specific support and advice is awesome,” says Rosie Forbes, Fortuna Group, Southland.
“We try to be as efficient as possible but you don’t know what you don’t know so being involved in a programme like this helps make sure we’re steering in the right direction. It was cool to have the chance to meet with the team from Nestlé to talk more about how we can work together to reduce emissions and help them meet their targets because other countries and companies are catching up,” says Mark Stichbury, Waikato.
“The project is reinforcing the direction of travel we are already taking and while I like to think that we are already quite efficient, the project has identified some opportunities. It’s providing clarity that the tools we are using are the best available to get the outcomes we are trying to achieve. My advice to other farmers would be to actively think about efficiency and not buy into the flawed assumption that you can’t reduce your GHG footprint without compromising profit,” says George Moss, Waikato.
1 Emissions intensity is the emissions that are generated per unit of product.
2 Key results have been calculated on a per kg of Fat and Protein Corrected Milk basis, which is the international standardisation required for emissions reporting.
3 Total amounts of purchased feed were similar across the seasons (24,040 tonnes in 2021/22 vs 23,110 tonnes in 2022/23) but the types of feeds and the embedded emissions in these feeds changed. For example, farmers in group one purchased 1,700 tonnes less PKE in 2022/23 compared to 2021/22.
4 The use of nitrogen-based fertilisers decreased from 123kgN per ha to 100kgN per ha on average.