Inside Arla A MAGA ZI N E FO R A R L A FA RMER OW N ER S A BO U T YO U R COMPA N Y
Taking Castello® beyond the cheese board PAGE 8
Dairy expansion brings production closer to customers PAGE 14
Digging into regenerative farming PAGE 18
Big5:
Climate action where it matters most PAGE 4
MARCH / 2022
8
20
Castello®: Cooking up an appetite for cheese
Building trust through an open door
Arla’s global cheese brand is gaining traction, finding new ways of reaching and inspiring consumers.
Farm visits are back on, giving consumers an important first-hand look at dairy farming.
2 Big5: A joint effort on climate improvements Benchmarking and improved support for next steps in reducing the carbon footprint.
14 Local and large Arla’s dairy in the Kingdom of Bahrain is set to capture a growing potential in the region.
Editorial
Dear farmer owner
During the last few weeks, we have witnessed something that we all hoped not to see in our lifetimes, war in Europe. The impact and consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are tragic and our thoughts are with everyone affected, including Ukrainian colleagues working in Arla or on Arla farms. As you know, we have taken action to suspend our operations in Russia, including both local operations and imports, and we are working with humanitarian organisations to provide food aid and financial support to Ukraine and its refugees. We are also collaborating internally and externally on handling the risks the situation created, for you as farmers and for Arla as a business. At the time of writing, we are putting plans in place to address those risks, including volatility in the energy markets and the price increase and availability of feed and fertiliser, further compounding the inflationary challenges that you were already dealing with. We will continue to keep you updated on the developments on Arla Farmers. While handling this distressing situation, we are also looking further ahead in this first year of executing our Future26 strategy. In this edition, we share some of the ways we are building on a strong starting point to capture the opportunities in a global dairy market that is set to grow. We take a close look at our dairy in Bahrain, expanded to strengthen our position in a region that already has a great appetite for our products. You can also get an insight into how our cheese brand Castello has succeeded in reaching and inspiring consumers in new ways, exceeding our growth expectations in the last year. On sustainability too, we are making important headway together. Based on the efforts of almost 8,000 farmer owners taking part in the Climate Check programme, we have a unique platform for improvement. In this issue, find out more about how we will use this insight to make more knowledge, support and solutions available to you as owners, so that we can continue to lead the way on climate action. I hope you enjoy reading the magazine.
PEDER TUBORGH CEO
18 A force for good Pilot network of 24 Arla farmers is exploring the benefits of regenerative farming.
BIG5
Climate action where it matters most This year, Arla is stepping up its engagement activities and support to members to help drive down emissions in the five most impactful farm management areas, the so-called Big5. From the Climate Check data, it’s clear that 78 per cent of the differences between farms with a low carbon footprint and farms with a high carbon footprint can be be put down to how the Big5 areas are managed. An important first step is to ensure that every farmer gets a clear picture of their current performance in these five areas.
To help with this Arla is introducing a new benchmarking model, so each farmer can look at their climate check results and see how their farm performs on the Big5 compared to similar farms.. The model is designed to show what it is possible to achieve, when looking at the best performing farmers in the group.
Hanne Søndergaard Hanne Søndergaard is Head of Agriculture, Sustainability and Communication in Arla and is responsible for Arla’s on-farm sustainability and member engagement activities. Here’s why she thinks Arla farmers, already amongst the best-in-class when it comes to climate efficient dairy production, have an opportunity to achieve even more:
Arthur Fearnall UK Board member, Arthur Fearnall, is chairman and one of 14 farmer owners in the new Global Sustainability Working Group, which has been established to sense check and advise on Arla’s on-farm sustainability initiatives. Here’s why he thinks that working with the Big5 makes sense:
“Getting the carbon cost per kg down is one of our most important long-term focus areas and while most of us are trying hard, there is more we can do. The Big5 is one of the few tools available right now to help us become more sustainable, as well as more profitable dairy farmers. As we continue to experience significant and sustained inflationary pressures on farm costs, we will all be looking for ways to be more efficient and produce with less anyway.” Why is it a good idea to benchmark farmers against farmers on their Big5 performance?
“A first step in any change is to understand where you currently are compared to others. The benchmarking tool provides this and it also shows what similar farms have been able to achieve. We all have room for improvement! As it is, only 12 farms in our cooperative are top performers on all five levers. But in a way, this is positive, because if we were all green it would be much more difficult to reduce our carbon cost per kg.” A lot of farmers will get a grey score on one or more lever. How should they perceive that?
“As a cooperative, we are already very climate-efficient dairy farmers. However, some farmers are further along that journey than others and the top performers set the bar for what others can achieve. So, a grey score is not a disaster. The way I look at it is that if you get a grey score on one of the Big5 you have the biggest opportunity to make the biggest difference, both on emissions and profitability.”
“Dairy contributes with a good proportion of the macro and micronutrients that people across the world need to stay healthy and avoid malnutrition and hidden hunger. There is, however, also scientific consensus that dairy comes at a climate cost. We have a responsibility to help meet national climate targets and we need to reassure consumers that there is no need to shift to something other than dairy. By looking at the Climate Check data and at what some of the most efficient Arla farmers are doing, we know that there is still great potential for even more climate efficient management, which could also improve profitability on farm.” Will all farmers be able to improve their profitability?
“The Big5 are basically efficiency levers that lead to more output per input. So, working with these areas makes sense even if we didn’t have a climate challenge. We can’t guarantee an improved profitability for every single farmer, but it’s very likely. The road to better efficiency will, however, be different from farm to farm. For example, while many farmers will be able to use less protein without reducing yield, others will have to use a little more to optimise the feed. But the short-term increase in costs should be balanced out by increased yield.”
BIG5
“ No matter where we are today, we can always do better Roger Hildreth ARLA FARMER OWNER
”
BIG5
“It’s important to have that confidence in my feed” When thinking about reducing the protein level in his feed, Farmer owner, Roger Hildreth, expected that he would experience a yield knock. But, his feed advisor changed his mind and today his farm is amongst the best on protein efficiency.
“I like to take advice from people who don’t have anything to sell,” as he puts it.
Roger, who farms in Yorkshire, signed up when Arla was looking for pilot farms to gather data on Protein Efficiency, one of the Big 5 Levers. “We can see that a lower carbon footprint often gives a positive financial impact, too, and with feed being our biggest cost, it makes sense to spend the time to get to know what more we can do,” says Roger. He signed up when Arla was looking for pilot farms to gather data on protein efficiency – one of the Big5 levers.
In fact, it was the advisor who recommended Roger to take a key step in reducing the use of protein.
“It took him a long time to convince me to go from 18 per cent protein in our out of parlour feeders down to 16 per cent. I expected to take a yield knock, but we didn’t. And we continue to challenge the cows to milk from forage, trying to reduce concentrate as much as possible from out of parlour feeders.”
Participating in the pilot project has meant sharing knowledge with fellow farmers and having his feed data scrutinised in more detail than in the Climate Check. The numbers confirmed that his 120 milking cow are amongst the most effieicnt in terms of converting protein in to milk.
Crucial confidence
Daily routines includes weighing all parts of the feed and recording any changes. Getting the protein levels right also includes analyses of his silage several times a year. While the nutritional content doesn’t fluctuate much, this gives him an important tool to ensure he doesn’t overfeed protein.
“It is nice to know that we are in a good place today, but it also motivates us to take the next steps. There are more gains to be had,” he says.
“It’s important to have that confidence in you’re your feed. Without it, perhaps you end up using that little extra concentrate that the cows don’t need,” he says. He also points to breeding, careful silage production and precise timing of the grazing paddocks to help get the most from the resources on farm.
The farm has been reporting on its carbon footprint for about a decade. Roger signed up when a major UK retailer was looking for farmers to trial new standards. Over that decade, Roger has gradually reduced the carbon footprint and according to Climate Check it is now at 1.04 kg CO2 per kg milk.
Looking at his Climate Check results, he is green in four of the five “Big5 levers” but still feels there is room for improvement, not least after sparring with experts and fellow farmers in the pilot project.
“There is no magic bullet that will drastically reduce his on farm carbon footprint. We have nibbled away at the edges over the years, improving bit by bit,” he says.
“No matter where we are today, we can always do better.”
That “nibbling” includes continuously optimising the feed plans for each group of cows, in close collaboration with an independent feed advisor.
5
BIG5
FIVE UNIVERSAL LEVERS TO A LOWER CARBON FOOTPRINT There are many ways to a lower footprint, however, one of the many findings from the data is that there are five big levers that explain the majority of difference in the carbon footprint of milk across all types of farms and countries:
BETTER FEED EFFICIENCY MORE MILK PER FEED INPUT
The more effectively a unit of feed is converted into milk, the lower the climate impact. This includes minimising feed losses, which can take place at any stage from growing and harvesting crops to storage, transportation and feed application. Precision in the composition of feed, matching the dietary requirements of each group of animals also has a positive impact. And finally, the health and wellbeing of the animals is a key factor in ensuring that the herd is able to effectively convert feed into milk.
BETTER NITROGEN EFFICIENCY PRECISE PROTEIN LEVEL IN FEED
Ensuring the right level of protein in the feed is key to optimizing the cow’s production of milk while limiting nitrogen emissions. If overfed protein, the cow will excrete what it can’t use, leading to higher levels of nitrogen in the manure and higher emissions. Limiting the use of bought high-protein concentrates will also have a positive effect on the carbon footprint as these often have a larger carbon footprint due to the production, processing and transport. Accurate feeding plans for each group of animals is key to good results.
ANIMAL ROBUSTNESS HEALTHY COWS
Cows that live a long and healthy life will produce more milk over their lifetime, which will spread the carbon footprint - including that of rearing a heifer - over a longer period of time and a larger volume of milk. A healthy dairy cow will also be used in beef production at the end of its life, spreading the climate impact on both meat and dairy. Mortality rates can also be a measure of the herd’s general health, and avoiding serious illness will limit the unproductive periods over a cow’s life.
FERTILISER USE
REDUCE NITROGEN SURPLUS FROM FEED PRODUCTION
Applying too much fertiliser increases emissions of nitrous oxide. Analysing the nutrient content in the slurry on farm can ensure a more precise dosage. The timing and the methods of application, such as technology to inject the slurry into the ground, also has a considerable effect on reducing emissions. More efficient use of the farm’s manure also limits the need for artificial fertilisers, which have a high carbon footprint.
LAND USE
BETTER CROP YIELDS
Improving the yield from the farm’s own land and feedstuff choices have a positive effect on the climate. Ways to improve include introducing new feedstuffs with higher nutritional yield and optimizing silage production and grazing. Higher crop yields also means that the carbon footprint of home-grown feed is reduced. When less of the nitrogen is lost and more is used by the plants and eventually eaten by the cow, this improves circularity.
BIg5
WHAT DOES THE BENCHMARK COLOURS MEAN? The benchmarking model is designed to reflect and maintain the cooperative’s diversity of farms. So rather than be benchmarked against all types of farms across seven countries, you are benchmarked against a group of farms in your own country with a similar herd size and feed type. This way, it should be possible to achieve the same performance as the top performing farms in your particular benchmarking group. Based on the data submitted in the Climate Check 2020, you will get one of three scores for each of the Big5 levers: FULL GREEN: You have come far already in managing this lever efficiently and are amongst the best in your group to reduce emissions and optimise profitability. As a starting point, 25 per cent of the farms in each benchmarking group will be scored full green on this lever. HALF GREEN: You still have a good potential for managing this lever more efficiently and therefore also a good potential to further reduce emissions and optimise profitability. As a starting point, 50 per cent of the farms in each benchmarking group will be scored half green on this lever. GREY: You are in the group that has the biggest potential for managing this lever more efficiently and therefore also the biggest potential to reduce emissions and optimise profitability. As a starting point, 25 per cent of the farms in each benchmarking group will be scored grey on this lever. The performance thresholds for scoring full green, half green or grey are set on the basis of the 25%-50%-25% distribution within the benchmarking group. The threshold will be locked for future benchmarking. If your validated 2021 data shows an improvement on a lever, you may get a different colour. The ambition is to move the 75 per cent of farms currently in grey or half green into full green by 2030 so that, over time, the percentage of farms with levers in full green will increase, while the percentage of farms with levers in grey or half green will decrease. To find your own scores, go to your Climate Check results via Arlagården and click on the menu tab ‘Potential for reducing emissions’.
A WAVE OF CLIMATE ACTION Only 12 Arla farms are currently in full green on all five levers at the same time (based on 2020 Climate Check data). This means that almost all farmers have a great potential for managing these levers more efficiently to further reduce emissions as well as improve profitability. If all Arla farmers move to full green by 2030, it is estimated that it will deliver 8 of the targeted 30 per cent reduction per kg of milk. R MS 2912 FA
AMBITION AR M 4F 0 0 2 FA 798
S 12 FARM
5 LEVERS IN FULL GREEN
S
209 9F AR M
S
R MS
R MS 166 FA
4 LEVERS IN FULL GREEN
3 LEVERS IN FULL GREEN
2 LEVERS IN FULL GREEN
7
1 LEVER IN FULL GREEN
0 LEVERS IN FULL GREEN
Our iconic brands
Castello®:
Success beyond the cheese board
8
Our iconic brands
Arla’s Castello® branded cheeses are gaining traction in a number of markets, growing six per cent globally in 2021. Mouth-watering campaigns and new innovations in flavour and design have inspired more consumers to use speciality cheese in everyday life
“You could say those cheeseboards at Christmas and Easter have been both a blessing and a curse for us in the past,” says Ann-Camilla Kjæmpe, Senior Director of Castello®, one of Arla’s five strategic global brands. The potential and ambitions for the Castello® brand are reflected in the Future26 strategy, where targets include revenue for Castello® to double by 2026. With a history going back to 1893, today Castello®’s products are wide-ranging, from yellow cheeses including Gouda and Havarti, to white and blue mould speciality cheeses. Many of them staples on that traditional cheeseboard when family and friends gather for the big holidays.
“Castello® has done very well around those peak times, selling in very big volumes. But it has been a challenge to move beyond that,” explains Anne-Camilla, who three years ago took over responsibility for marketing the Castello® brand. Increasing sales over the rest of the year required a new approach. “We needed to inspire consumers to use our products in all those occasions in everyday life when our quality cheeses adds something extra, either as a snack, as topping on pizza, in a sauce or an oven dish,” says Ann-Camilla. Industry analysis shows the potential is there. The area in which cheese consumption will grow the most in the coming years is as an ingredient in cooking.
Dairy innovation
So how do we give more consumers a taste for using cheese in everyday cooking and snacking? The recently launched Velvet Blue cheese is one example of how the Castello® team is tweaking products. A traditional blue mould cheese is, as the name suggests, slightly milder and creamier in taste. It has also been developed to have less visible mould on the outside, making it more appealing to a new segment of consumers who would normally not buy a blue mould cheese.
“Our dairies really play a key role and have been very inventive in adapting existing production lines. So with what is often a very small investment, we have been able to breathe new life into products, inspiring more people to use them in their home cooking,” says Senior Global Brand Manager, James Prentice. Quality first
Telling the story of how Castello®’s cheeses provide something extra to consumers has been another priority.
“
We needed to inspire customers to use our products in everyday life when our quality cheeses add something extra
With clever use of existing produc tion equipment at Høgelund dairy in Denmark, it is shaped in a rectangu lar block, rather than the traditional triangle or half-moon shape. This not only makes it stand out from the competition, but it also makes it easier to slice or grate to use in cooking.
9
”
“It’s a fundamental need for us all to have these taste sensations, and this is where we can differentiate ourselves from competitors who just deliver a, sometimes bland, slice of yellow cheese. It is a matter of getting this craftmanship across to consumers,” explains Ann-Camilla.
Our iconic brands
Castello® had to speak to consumers’ eyes and tastebuds and a key step was a global partnership with the food content platform, Tastemade, experts in creating mouth watering advertising. The result was the “Feed Your Senses” campaign launched two years ago, which has since been tempting consumers to using Castello® in new ways.
“By baking Creamy Whites, melting Aged Havarti toasties and adding a bit of Danish Blue bite to a dish, we’re changing perceptions of how speciality cheese can be used, and it’s working,” says James Prentice.
The “Feed your Senses” online campaign also proved valuable when Covid-19 first appeared. Revenue was hit hard, when sales to restaurants, canteens and in deli counters came to an abrupt halt. But it also meant that consumers were increasingly looking online for food inspiration at home.
“Many consumers have converted their commuting time to cooking time during the pandemic, and many of these new habits will stick,” says Ann-Camilla Kjæmpe. Keeping to good quality
While the potential is there for Castello® to grow further, each key market will follow its own tailored
approach. Castello® has gained a foothold in Canada and the USA, while in Australia it is already a leading speciality cheese brand. In Europe, a main priority is creating a stronger position in yellow cheese. A category characterised by very large competitors and intense price pressure.
“We can’t win in terms of price, nor do we want to, as we simply don’t have the production setup to do that. We want to deliver good quality and give consumers a taste experience. So it is a matter of building on our credentials from speciality cheeses, showing how Castello® adds that extra value,” says Ann-Camilla.
AN “AUTHENTICALLY DANISH” BREAKTHROUGH IN THE US It has been a tough market to crack, but in 2021, half of Castello®’s global growth came from the USA. Part of the reason: focusing a lot of attention on a single product range; Havarti. A cheese which is unique in the US market as Havarti has Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status. This means only cheeses produced in Denmark and using specific production techniques can use the name Havarti. Consequently, “Authentically Danish” became the headline in a focused campaign.
“By spending the budget behind one product rather than diluting it across many, we have been able to make an impact,” says James Prentice. Combined with winning new distribution deals, which has taken the product to more US supermarkets than before, this increased Havarti sales by 25 per cent in the last year. In 2021, Havarti accounted for almost half of Castello®’s revenue in the US.
“Becoming known for the Havarti range, we can now build off that and point consumers to other products in our range. It follows the progression of a typical consumer; starting with a milder, yellow cheese you might move on to mould cheeses that give you a more complex taste experience,” says James.
Revenue in 2021: Shaping the future: Shaped like a block, with less mould visible and a smoother taste “Velvet Blue” was designed to make it more appealing to a new group of consumers and easier to use in cooking.
188 M EURO (up from 177 m euro in 2020)
ARLA PRODUCES CASTELLO® at a number of dairies in Denmark, the UK, Sweden, Canada and the US.
51 %
OF CASTELLO®’S VOLUME IN 2021
was from its blue and white mould cheeses, with the Creamy Blue and Creamy White half moons among the global best-sellers.
CASTELLO®’S LARGEST MARKETS BY REVENUE IN 2021 was the US, Canada, Australia/New Zealand
A HISTORY FOR QUALITY Castello®’s history goes back to 1893 and Danish cheese-maker Rasmus Tholstrup. He travelled and sought inspiration from other cheese-makers and created a number of high-quality cheeses over his career. His son followed in his footsteps and in 1944 created a classic Castello® product - a brie with a thin, delicate rind and a subtle creamy flavour. In 2006, Arla acquired Tholstrup Cheese and with it the Castello® brand.
Short News
Short News CLIMATE CHECK: SUBMIT YOUR DATA BY JUNE 30 TO AVOID A GAP IN YOUR INCENTIVE Almost 8,000 Arla farmer owners participated in the Climate Check programme in 2021. This year, to take part you can submit your farm data between March 1 and September 30. Farmers participating last year will receive the Climate Check incentive up to and including June 2022 - and to avoid a gap in the incentive, note that you must submit your data before the end of June. Also advisory visits will be booked on a first come, first serve basis. So submitting your data early in the year will help to facilitate an earlier advisory visit.
SNIFFING AROUND: POLICE DOGS ON TRAINING DAY AT SWEDISH DAIRY A group of four-legged members of the Swedish police force recently paid a training visit to Arla’s warehouse at the dairy in Jönköping. The Swedish police force is always looking for places to train their sniffer dogs - and Arla was happy to oblige, when in February they came knocking. While there were neither drugs or weapons to be found, the warehouse proved a good challenge.
Short news
THE BBC TAKES A LOOK AT ARLA’S POO POWER Earlier this year, the BBC showed the British public how Arla farmer owner Neil Ridgway harnesses methane from slurry on his farm to make electricity. The popular and long-running Countryfile programme, which reports on rural and agricultural issues in the UK, visited Neil’s farm in Wiltshire to show how an anaerobic digester (AD) plant can turn cow poo into electricity, powering the farm and feeding into the local grid.
“The aim of this story was to reinforce the message that Arla farmers are part of the solution rather than the problem when it comes to sustainability,” says Theis Brøgger, UK communications director for Arla. “This is not about suggesting that all farms should install AD plants, it is about capturing the imagination of consumers through the concept of turning cow poo into electricity, so that we can talk about the opportunities for all types of renewable energy generation on farm. We know that our farmer owners are installing more and more renewable technologies on their farm and that this will play a part in helping us to reduce the carbon footprint of dairy. This story celebrates what we are already achieving and also calls for more support in the future.”
NEW TECHNOLOGY ENABLES INCREASED WHEY PRODUCTION A new way to separate milk, developed by Arla Foods Ingredients (AFI), makes it possible to produce whey without being dependent on cheesemaking production. The new milk fragmentation technology opens the door for AFI to increase whey production with fewer steps and in a fully controlled and more transparent way.
“Traditional cheesemaking calls for significant quantities of milk to produce the volumes of whey our customers demand. And now that we are not reliant on the cheesemaking process, we can increase our whey production significantly and at the same time offer our customers and consumers greater transparency of the origin of the infant milk formula as just a few farmer owners supply the milk,” says Head of AFI, Henrik Andersen. The new milk fractionation process is being used for infant formula - Arla’s organic Arla Baby&Me® brand - to fulfil a growing demand for organic infant formula which is estimated to increase by 14.1 per cent in the next two years. AFI expects to launch its first organic private label infant formula solutions based on the technology during 2022.
DAIRY TALES
Bahrain:
Scaling up for efficiency With an expansion of the Manama Dairy, Arla has quadrupled production at the site in the Kingdom of Bahrain, creating synergies of scale, bringing production of processed cheese closer to the consumers and improving shelf life.
This year, 85,000 tons of cheese is expected to be rolling off production lines in Arla’s dairy in Manama, in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
Feeding a growing market
While the majority of production at Manana, around 65,000 tons per year, bears the Puck® logo, there is another key product in production here. When Arla took over the site in Bahrain from Mondelez International in 2019, Arla also bought the license to produce and sell processed cheese under the Kraft® brand in the Middle East region.
That is four times the amount possible a year ago. The result of investment in new buildings and production equipment, including 11 new filling lines, and new employees. Manama is now Arla’s main processed cheese production site in the Middle East, consolidating production of Puck® processed cheese and sterilised cream products, that was previously split across our Riyadh site in Saudi Arabia and Bislev and AKAFA in Denmark and delivering a number of financial and operational benefits.
Combined with the Puck® range, this means Arla today holds a strong position in the region.
“With the acquisition of the Kraft brand we have become a more significant player in the cheese category across the region, opening-up opportunities with customers to partner with them on how to grow the dairy category together moving forward,” says Kim Villadsen, Senior Vice President of Arla MENA.
Commenting on the investment, Site Director Jørgen Greve, said:
“We have created synergies in terms of scale to lower our cost of production. Also, being located closer to the main market means we have been able to reduces transport costs – particularly impactful as shipping costs and times have increased dramatically. Finally, we are at able to cut distribution times to improve the shelf-life of our products by up to six weeks.”
Globally, revenue for the Puck® brand grew by 3.1 per cent in 2021, while Kraft grew by 6.5 per cent. Kim Villadsen and his team see significant opportunities for continued growth in existing and new markets in the region.
14
DAIRY TALES
DAIRY TALES
“
Having state-of-the-art production provides us with new opportunities in innovation
Leading in the processed cheese category
Since 2010 Arla has more than doubled sales organically across the Middle East region, making it our largest market outside Europe. The expansion of the production in Manama also provides Arla with an additional advantage in tapping into that growing appetite for dairy.
“Having a state of the art production site provides us with new opportunities in innovation. It allows to us to customise regionally specific products, such as a sweet spread, we have launched recently, giving us better op-
”
portunities to target exact consumer needs and trends in the region,” says Kim Villadsen. In the broader Arla perspective, increasing capacity in Bahrain has also enabled a reshuffle between dairies to improve efficiencies. The Riyadh site has had space to introduce new product categories, including Starbucks® and Cooking (creams, soups and sauces) both of which are increasingly in demand in the MENA market. This, in turn, left additional capacity in the dairy in Esbjerg, Denmark, to power up their Starbucks® production to serve the increasing European demand.
GOING SOLAR In 2022, the dairy in the Kingdom of Bahrain is completing a project to install solar panels on its roof. With a capacity of 1.7 MW, the panels are expected to supply around 22 per cent of the dairy’s electricity consumption. While the investment will be paid back over the next few years, the production of renewable energy will reduce the CO2 impact of operations by 1,600 tons of CO2 per year.
MANAMA DAIRY, KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN
Acquired by Arla in 2019
Produces Puck® and Kraft® cheeses and sterilised cream.
Top three markets in which products are sold:
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
United Arab Emirates
Kuwait
The site employs
315
FULL TIME EMPLOYEES
Regenerative farming
Regenerative pilot farmers are digging in 24 Arla farmer owners are off to a good start in exploring how regenerative agriculture can help maximise the positive impact of dairy farming on the environment.
Regenerative farming
“Combined, this will help me lower the input of both chemical fertiliser and concentrated feed. With both being extremely expensive at the moment, I hope to see a benefit both for the soil and my farm economy.”
Better soil health, increased biodiversity and improved carbon capture are generally regarded as outcomes of regenerative farming. But how can regenerative farming practices can be adopted on dairy farms and to what effect? That is the question 24 Arla farmer owners, who last year joined the pilot network, have set out to help answer.
The farmer owners in the network will work for a minimum period of four years to implement regenerative practices with help from experts, measure the impact systematically and share their knowledge.
In the pilot programme, the farmers, working with regenerative agriculture experts, will explore regenerative farming methods in a structured and coordinated manner together. Among them Arla farmer owner Frank Post from the Netherlands, who so far has participated in three sessions with experts and fellow farmers to get insight and share experiences.
“It has been an eye-opener for me to look at the soil as the basis of the farm, rather than only the cow. In the Netherlands, we usually look at soil from a chemical perspective and in this project there is more focus on the biological content of the soil,” he says and explains why he decided to join the pilot programme.
REGENERATIVE FARMING NETWORK A network of 24 Arla farmer pilot farms was established in 2021 help examine and define the impact of regenerative dairy farming.
“I hope I can move towards a system that will capture a lot more carbon to benefit both the climate, my farm economy and which can also help make Arla unique – producing healthy, tasty products that help capture carbon,” says Frank.
Today, there is very little data or scientific documentation available on the matter that farmers can use as guidance for implementing new practices on farm.
Each farmer works one-to-one with an advisor to decide which area of regenerative farming they want to focus on in the coming years. Also, baseline measurements will be taking in the spring. Frank and his advisor will focus on the use of fertiliser:
The network consists of two organic and four conventional farms from each of four largest owner countries; Sweden, Denmark, the UK and Central Europe - representing both grazed and fully housed systems.
“The idea is to start feeding the soil rather than feeding a crop. For me, it will mean applying less chemical fertiliser and more organic material and manure,” says Frank, who will also change his grazing system to increase the amount of grass intake in his herd.
19
Public events back on as restrictions are lifted More open farm events are planned this year as the pandemic subsides - helping build trust in Arla and understanding of modern dairy farming among consumers. This spring, farmers owners across Arla countries are welcoming the public back for a first-hand look at dairy farming. As COVID-19 restrictions are lifted across Northern Europe, a range of event on farm are scheduled for the coming months. “Farm events are such an important part of engaging with consumers, showcasing all the good work that our owners are doing on their farms. It gives the public a chance to learn about dairy farming firsthand, disproving myths and strengthening trust in our brand,” says Graham Wilkinson, head of Members and Agri Commercial in Arla. Already in the calendar are events throughout April and May in Sweden as cows are released on-to grass, Organic Day in Denmark on April 10, and Open Farm Sunday in the UK on June 12. More events across all member countries are being planned. While online events were held during lockdown, there is no substitute for the physical event, says Graham.
“The face-to-face dialogue and transparency into a farming practices is something our visitors really appreciate. It builds on our strength as an farmer-owned cooperative, so we are grateful that once again so many of our owners are showing an interest in participating.” says Graham. In 2020, a pilot project gave Arla employees the opportunity to sign up for volunteering at Open Farm Sunday in Denmark. The project, initiated to build a stronger connection between farmers and employees was so successful it will be expanded this year to cover Organic Day in Denmark as well as events when cows are released on grass. Did you know?
While farm visits were not an option during lock-down, Arla conducted a number of online events to give the public access to dairy-farming first hand. In total, nearly a million consumers around the world watched from home as Arla farmer owner cows were released onto grass.
FARM VISITS 2022
Inside Arla is the magazine for Arla’s owners about your company. The magazine is published in six languages. The magazine is printed on FSC certified paper and is also available online. Publisher: Arla Foods amba, Sønderhøj 14, 8260 Viby, DK. Print: Stibo Complete. If you do not want to receive a printed version, let us know at insidearla@arlafoods.com.
NOR DI
N SWA ECO
Offset purchased from: Gold Standard www.climatecalc.eu
CC-000001/DK
Printed matter 5041 0004
BEL
This printed matter is carbon compensated according to ClimateCalc.
C
LA
TM