Nestlé joins new partnership to improve dairy farming in Brazil

Nestlé has joined a new partnership with its competitors in Brazil to help more than 2,200 dairy farms improve milk quality, safety and sustainability.

The company has entered the agreement through Dairy Partners Americas, its joint venture in South America with dairy company Fonterra.

Dairy Partners Americas has teamed up with Brazil Foods and Itambé, two leading Brazilian food producers, to share best practices.

Shared standards

Together, the three companies have worked with the State Secretariat of Science, Technology and Higher Education for Minas Gerais – a major dairy farming region – to define a set of common standards.

The companies will help their suppliers to meet these standards in all the regions in Brazil where they purchase milk.

Their aim is to accelerate milk production while improving dairy farming practices across the country by encouraging other organisations to adopt the same standards.

Training farmers

Farmers will be helped to improve milk storage as well as the use and cleaning of equipment.

They will receive training in basic veterinary skills, as well as training to improve animal welfare and milking parlour conditions.

Farmers will also be shown how to reduce the environmental impact of their activities by setting up better wastewater treatment and drainage systems.

It is expected that 2,260 farms will start to adopt the recommended practices by the end of 2012.

Dairy Partners Americas

Dairy Partners Americas is a joint venture between Nestlé, the world’s largest food and beverage company, and Fonterra, a New Zealand-based cooperative and the world’s largest exporter of dairy products.

Dairy Partners Americas purchases around three billion litres of milk per year to supply both companies.

It works directly with 13,000 commercial milk producers and indirectly with another 40,000 through farming cooperatives.

In Brazil, Dairy Partners Americas employs more than 3,000 people and operates 12 sites.