Sustainable Dairy Partnership: Industry unites to drive green production and tackle sourcing challenges

23 Sep 2019 --- At a time when the dairy industry is facing challenges in sustainable and responsible sourcing, sector leaders are backing the piloted Sustainable Dairy Partnership (SDP) which is due to be fully operational early next year, led by the Switzerland-based Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI) Platform. The SDP aims to unite an industry-wide push towards global sustainability and usher in a collective approach to commercial relationships between dairy customers and their suppliers to overcome environmental and social impacts impacting the industry worldwide. The SDP has been piloted across Europe, the US, and Australia and requires all participating processors to address deforestation, animal welfare, human rights and compliance with local legislation.

Key figures in the dairy industry are officially offering their support of the newly formed SDP at the International Dairy Federation World Dairy Summit, which begins today in Istanbul, Turkey. Representing approximately 30 percent of the total global milk volume – farmer cooperatives, processors, buyers and retailers have worked in close collaboration to present this initiative as a catalyst for a more sustainable dairy industry.

“The SAI Platform Dairy Working Group is highly collaborative,” Brigid Norde-McAleer, Communications Manager of SAI Platform, tells FoodIngredientsFirst. “There are regular and scheduled meetings both in person and via webinar. A Steering Committee has been set up to specifically focus on the SDP and to revise governance and further development.”

“Once the SDP is implemented in developed markets such as Europe, the US and Oceania, we will be looking to the developing markets and how to make our approach in that context. The SDP supports locally prioritized improvements, which means it is flexible to the needs of different sourcing contexts,” she adds.

Dairy is a source of nutrition for six billion people around the world and provides income for one billion, according to FAO.The cohort recognizes and reinforces sustainability programs that are already in place. Through harmonizing buyer programs, the initiative aims to reduce excessive farm audits, enabling better use of resources to work toward sustainability priorities.

The aim of the SDP is to have an outspread impact across the dairy supply chain. It is built on the Dairy Sustainability Framework (DSF) and its eleven criteria that tackle sustainability issues.

The SDP was created by members of the SAI Platform Dairy Working Group: Ahold Delhaize, Arla, Barry Callebaut, Bord Bia, The Coca Cola Company, Dairy Australia, Dairy Farmers of America, Danone, Ferrero, Fonterra, FrieslandCampina, Givaudan, Glanbia Ireland, Innovation Center for US Dairy, Kerry, Land O’Lakes, Mars Wrigley, Molkerei Ammerland, Nestlé, Reckitt Benckiser, Starbucks and Unilever.

Prioritizing green dairy production
As a collaborative approach, the SDP acknowledges that industry needs to take on more responsibility and make further progress on sustainability measures. According to the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, milk is one of the most widely produced and valuable agricultural commodities worldwide. Dairy is a source of nutrition for six billion people around the world and a source of income for one billion, as highlighted by these reports. Still, the dairy industry is under pressure to address environmental and social impacts.

The SDP highlights that 22 businesses have already pledged support for its cause. For farmers, this approach will help them improve their practices and become more sustainable, notes the cohort. “The SDP will help recognize the hard work that our farmers have put into improving on-farm sustainability,” says Miles Hurrell, CEO at Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited.

For companies that buy dairy products and want to show how sustainably they are produced, the SDP seeks to offer a credible and rational approach. It defines five key stages that help processors assess where they are on their The SDP highlights that 22 businesses have already pledged support for its cause.sustainability journey and measure their impact. Each company that produces dairy products prioritizes the most important issues relevant to them. Checks are streamlined and a simple one-page report indicates the progress of the processors providing verification status and key performance indicators. 

“The SDP allows dairy suppliers to report progress on the most relevant issues. It represents a major step for the sector to move from compliance-based reporting to impact-based reporting,” says Jan Kees Vis, Global Director Sustainable Sourcing Development at Unilever and SAI Platform President.

An aligned relationship between dairy buyers and processors is essential to improve measures on sustainability priorities, underscores the SDP. By streamlining this relationship, the SDP recognizes and reinforces the DSF as well as robust national and company programs to improve sustainability performance at farm level.

Encouraging green practices that begin low on the supply chain has been advocated by SDP backer Arla Foods, which began a public-private partnership in Nigeria with the local dairy sector this month to invest in small-scale farmers and strengthen its business position in the country. This year, Arla also developed a new artificial intelligence tool to better predict its milk intake from farms as well as pledged to operate globally from a carbon net zero standpoint by 2050.

In similar developments, FrieslandCampina is exploring options to build a sustainable dairy processing plant in the Netherlands intended for the processing of milk into fresh dairy products and ingredients used for the production of early life and adult nutrition and cheese manufacturing.

“This new SDP is the next evolution of the strong collaboration that we have built with our suppliers to meet consumer expectations. It now helps us to progress from activity-based to results-based management to further enhance our sustainability work,” says Patricia Stroup, Global Vice-President and Head of Procurement, Commodities, Nestlé.

By Benjamin Ferrer