Individual farm-level data is driving change

With comprehensive data for each individual farm, Fonterra has set an important benchmark for the dairy industry while providing vital insights to our total environmental impact.

Watch Fonterra On-Farm Sustainability Partner, Sarah Wood, explain how our on-farm data drives efficiencies

Data enables insights to improve on-farm efficiency and climate impact

Our on-farm data process begins with collection across almost every aspect of a farmer’s operation, aggregated into their Farm Dairy Records. This is combined with the Co-op’s data on milk quality and production, and third-party research to provide a totally unique resource for on-farm decision making. Data is consolidated and tailored specifically for each farm in the form of a Farm Insights Report and a Farm Environment Plan.

Farm Insights Report

Farm Insights Reports enable farmers to understand key parts of their farm performance and find opportunities to fine-tune their efficiencies by providing useful insights on milk production and quality, animal wellbeing, and farm environmental performance including farm-specific greenhouse gas (GHG) data. This helps our farmers understand their farm’s emissions footprint and benchmarks its performance relative to similar farms. 

Farm Environment Plan

Our team of dedicated Sustainable Dairy Advisors work with our farmers to apply these insights by adjusting and improving on-farm practices and efficiencies through individualised Farm Environment Plans. Using industry-leading GPS mapping technology, these plans identify risks and recommend remedial actions and target completion dates to help guide farmers in risk mitigation.

A connected information system

Our data system is connected and continuously improving. It helps us identify the baseline by which our, and our farmer shareholder’s, progress is measured. For our Co-operative, the insights generated at an individual farm level can lead to new innovations that can be scaled and leveraged by other Fonterra farmer shareholders.

Our unique approach to data enables us to track improvement and progress regenerative agriculture practices across our whole farming community. The high level of granularity within our data collection system means we’re able to provide transparency and assurance for end-users throughout our organisation, from our farmer shareholders to our NZMP™ customers, and regulators and authorities.

How NZMP™ customers can leverage this data

The data generated for use in our Farm Insight Reports and Farm Environment Plans has enabled Fonterra to build our Climate Roadmap which details Fonterra’s 2030 targets and ambition to be net zero by 2050, and the creation of the NZMP Carbon Footprinter tool which enables customers to determine the emissions footprint of New Zealand sourced NZMP products.

By driving on-farm efficiencies, Farm Insight Reports and Farm Environment Plans help to continuously improve emissions reductions for Fonterra and ultimately, for our NZMP customers. This robust, quality data informs us of our farmers’ environmental impact right down to each farm, which in turn, provides our customers with highly valuable information they can use to help mitigate climate risk as part of their Scope 3 targets.