February 7, 2019

FrieslandCampina: Dutch dairy farmers rewarded more for sustainability efforts
 

Dutch dairy farmers in the province of Drenthe, the Netherlands, now receive more remuneration for their efforts in the area of ​​biodiversity, dairy co-operative FrieslandCampina said.

According to the company, Drenthe and Rabobank had agreed to grant rewards on the basis of similar biodiversity criteria as FrieslandCampina. This will make it more attractive for member dairy farmers to take even more sustainable initiatives.

In Drenthe, this means that dairy farmers who show concrete improvements on common sustainability indicators such as grazing and nitrogen, phosphate and ammonia emissions can expect to be rewarded for such efforts, FrieslandCampina explained. The joint ambition of the three parties is that there will be as many closed loops as possible on Drenthe dairy farms by 2025.

"All FrieslandCampina members in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany who demonstrably score well on biodiversity in [FrieslandCampina's] "Foqus planet" [programme] will be rewarded from this year onwards," Frans Keurentjes, chairman of FrieslandCampina, commented.

"For example, we also envisaged the Biodiversity Monitor that we developed with WWF and Rabobank: agreeing clear criteria with which you can gain measurable insight and then rewarding effective efforts."

He also believes that there are more parties – from governments, businesses and consumers – that could join in rewarding dairy farmers for their efforts.

"We are committed to that. We are therefore pleased to see that the province of Drenthe and the Rabobank are taking these steps and would like to invite more parties to take part," Keurentjes said.

- FrieslandCampina