Rocky Road milk is here
Speciality milk producer Lewis Road Creamery is celebrating its 10th anniversary of iconic chocolate milk with a new flavour.
Prem Maan, Southern Pastures’ executive chairman says their farms have a massive programme to sequester carbon and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Corporate dairy farmer Southern Pastures has been judged to be a responsible investment leader for the seventh year running.
The company, which owns 19 dairy farms in Waikato and Canterbury and is the owner of premium dairy brand Lewis Road Creamery and wholesale business NZ Grass Fed Products LP, says it remains the only organisation from New Zealand's agriculture and food sectors to ever be included in the annual benchmark report released by the Responsible Investment Association Australasia (RIAA).
"So often the pastoral industry is judged by outputs such as emissions, but we're not nearly as rigorously measured or assessed for the positive services that some of us provide," says Prem Maan, Southern Pastures' executive chairman.
"On our farms, we have a massive programme of work underway to sequester carbon and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and foster biodiversity through, for example, good soil management, native plantings, and animal feed.
"We also act at executive level as strong stewards for more sustainable and resilient assets and markets. The RIAA benchmark is one way these positive efforts are independently recognised," says Maan.
RIAA represents investors with assets under management of over US$29 trillion, including NZ Managers who represent $328 billion.
Southern Pastures produces milk under its independently-audited 10 Star Certified Values standard, which covers stringent grass-fed, free-range, climate-change mitigation, human welfare, animal welfare, and sustainability requirements.
It doesn't feed cows imported palm kernel expeller (PKE), claiming its production contributes to loss of rainforest and biodiversity.
It also refuses to trade in carbon credits or offsets to achieve its zero carbon ambitions, but is committed to long-term farming techniques such as low tillage and deep-rooted plants that capture and store carbon from the atmosphere. It's also trialling and measuring numerous other initiatives such as biochar, dung beetles and prebiotics, as well as retiring land to native plantings.
"Soil can hold up to three times the amount of carbon than the atmosphere and all plant combined," says Maan.
"We think a positive approach to preserving carbon in our soil is potentially part of the answer to mitigating climate change.
"It's a shame that carbon sequestraction through on-farm soil management, native plantings and biodiversity is not prioritised in New Zealand over monoculture exotic trees."
The Ashburton-based Carrfields Group continues to show commitment to future growth and in the agricultural sector with its latest investment, the recently acquired 'Spring Farm' adjacent to State Highway 1, Winslow, just south of Ashburton.
New Zealand First leader and Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has blasted Fonterra farmers shareholders for approving the sale of iconic brands to a French company.
A major feature of the Ashburton A&P Show, to be held on October 31 and November 1, will be the annual trans-Tasman Sheep Dog Trial test match, with the best heading dogs from both sides of the Tasman going head-to-head in two teams of four.
Fewer bobby calves are heading to the works this season, as more dairy farmers recognise the value of rearing calves for beef.
The key to a dairy system that generates high profit with a low emissions intensity is using low footprint feed, says Fonterra program manager on-farm excellence, Louise Cook.
Rural retailer Farmlands has reported a return to profitability, something the co-operative says shows clear progress in the second year of its five-year strategy.
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