New Synlait & Nestlé co-investment partnership

Wednesday 13th March 2024

Synlait Milk Limited (Synlait) has joined Nestlé in a unique three-way partnership with its farmer suppliers to help fund innovative on-farm emissions reduction tools.

The partnership is focused on pragmatic on-farm solutions that improve efficiency, such as effluent management systems, emissions-friendly feed options, advanced soil testing, alternative fertilisers, and tree planting. It shares the anticipated investment three ways between Nestlé, Synlait and its farmer suppliers across a seven-year period.

This new kind of customer partnership will help Synlait reach its greenhouse gas emission targets, as well as opening potential new commercial opportunities to work together with Nestlé.

Synlait CEO Grant Watson commented: “This is a great example of proactive, industry-led solutions driving innovation across the supply chain, serving our customers’ demand for high quality, low-emissions products. Synlait’s industry-leading Lead With Pride™ programme has financially incentivised Synlait farmers to produce some of the most sustainable dairy in the world, and this partnership with Nestlé will help them go further, faster.”

“The partnership aims to reduce the cost of implementation and accelerate farmer adoption of emissions reduction tools. It’s leveraging technologies that are available in market right now and will expand over time to include emerging technologies as they become available. This kind of partnership also opens potential new opportunities to work together in other areas, and we look forward to a long and fruitful partnership with Nestlé.”

Nestlé Global Chief Procurement Officer Patricia Stroup, speaking on a visit to New Zealand, said that partnerships of this kind which bring Nestlé together with farmers and processors, would be instrumental in all parties reaching their greenhouse gas emission targets.

“Dairy is both our single biggest ingredient by volume, and our largest source of Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for around 21% of our total emissions. None of us can do this alone. Knowing this drives us to find new ways of working together, and means we need to collaborate with our dairy suppliers to adopt new ways to reduce emissions, and with farmers to create plans for climate, methane, and regenerative agriculture.

“While today’s announcement focuses on what can be delivered now, we are also continuing to develop new ways to reduce emissions through our own research, and external research partnerships. As our investigations continue, the most promising solutions are tested on research farms before being deployed more broadly. We are determined to draw on the best science worldwide, while ensuring that we deliver solutions that are locally relevant for farmers.”

New Synlait & Nestlé co-investment partnership to reduce on-farm emissions

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