Our thousands of New Zealand farmer owners are the heart of our Co-op. Fonterra works with them to help improve their practices, profitability and environmental efficiency.
Together, we’ll build more resilient intergenerational farming businesses and strive to achieve nature-positive outcomes. As a Co-op, we’re working together to realise the full potential of sustainable dairy nutrition and create goodness for generations to come.
93% of Fonterra’s New Zealand farms have a Farm Environment Plan
And we’re working towards 100% by 2025.
Fonterra's New Zealand farmers receive an annual Farm Insights Report
Which provides farm-specific opportunities, and benchmarking on environment, animals and milk performance. This helps farmers to make decisions that support on-farm efficiency.
90% of Fonterra's New Zealand farms have an Animal Wellbeing Plan
And we’re working towards 100% by 2025.
Our pathway towards our Scope 1 and Scope 3 FLAG target
We believe that dairy has a regenerative future and Fonterra is committed to helping Fonterra farmers remain among the most emissions-efficient producers of dairy.
We’re aiming for a 30% intensity reduction in Scope 1 and Scope 3 FLAG (Forest, Land and Agriculture Guidance) greenhouse gas emissions from dairy by 2030, from a 2018 baseline.
How we’re aiming to get there:
7% reduction from supporting farmers to adopt best practice farming
7% reduction through scaled up and commercially viable novel technologies
8% reduction through carbon removals from existing and new vegetation
8% from historical land-use change conversions
Farm Environment Plans
As part of our belief that dairy has a regenerative future, Fonterra’s team of Sustainable Dairying Advisors work with Fonterra farmers to develop tailored Farm Environment Plans. These plans utilise industry-leading mapping technology and recommend actions to help mitigate risks on-farm. Together, we can continue to improve our soil health, water quality, freshwater biodiversity and greenhouse gas emissions.
Fonterra also provides farmers with technical guidance, tools, and support with environmental reporting.
The Co-operative Difference
The Co-operative Difference framework recognises farmers who have made positive changes and encourages other farmers to do the same. Fonterra pays up to 10c per kilogram of milksolids above base milk price to farms that achieve practices across five focus areas – Milk, People and Community, Environment, Animals and Co-operative and Prosperity.
The start of the journey: Te Pūtake
Farms that achieve certain practices across Co-op, Environment, Animals and People earn 7c per kilogram of milksolids above base milk price.
The mid-point: Te Puku
Farms that achieve ‘Milk Quality Excellence’ earn an additional 3c per kilogram of milksolids (a total of 10c over the base milk price, including Te Pūtake and Te Puku payments).
The summit: Te Tihi
We recognise farmers who consistently provide the highest quality milk.
Rural Support Trust
Fonterra formed a strategic partnership with Rural Support Trust in August 2023. The shared vision for the partnership is to support rural New Zealanders by improving access to wellbeing and resilience services for farming families who are doing it tough.
Phase one of the partnership was to gain insight into the value Rural Support brings and opportunities for the Co-op to collaborate.
Phase two of the partnership involved Fonterra supporting Rural Support Trust to thrive and embed three opportunities to improve overall experience.
- Grow their operational capability
- Promote the value they bring to communities
- Grow their reach in the primary sector