A long-term supply agreement between Fonterra Australia and Bellamy’s Organic will see Tasmania’s organic dairy farmers building a 20-million-litre milk pool.
Fonterra Farm Source general manager Matt Watt said the processor was already working with organic dairy farmers in Tasmania, but expected more to convert.
“We have been talking with farmers and some have expressed interest in conversion. Some are already converting and some we expect to embark on conversion now we’ve announced this,” Mr Watt said.
Fonterra will support farmers through the conversion process with technical advice, he said.
“There is growing demand for organic. We have been buying in ingredients from all over the world to satisfy production, but one of the things that is important to us is to build Tasmania’s milk pool.”
“Organic production continues to grow in terms of global demand and it has double digit growth year on year,” Mr Watt said.
Milk sourced from within the state will be processed into powder at Fonterra’s Spreyton plant and then sent to Darnum, Victoria, for further processing into Bellamy’s nutritional powders.
Bellamy’s Organic chief executive Andrew Cohen said this agreement was an exciting step for Bellamy’s and Tasmania’s organic dairy industry.
“We believe the rising demand for our brand and high quality, premium organic infant formula in Australia, China and emerging Asia can become an important and value-added platform for Tasmanian farmers,” Mr Cohen said.
Article sourced from www.theadvocate.com.au
