In this issue...

We celebrate World Milk Day, report on progress in identifying five more global indicators, add more information on the DSF members meeting in Belfast in October and Chris Brown, Sustainable Business Director at ASDA, writes about consumer attitudes towards sustainability. Plus much more...

Today is World Milk Day! Raise a glass with us!

There will be 250+ events in 60 countries and counting! The Thunderclap has 422 followers and a social reach of almost 900,000!

Taking advantage of the fact that many of our members will be travelling to Belfast for the IDF World Dairy Summit in October, we will be holding our second members meeting there on Sunday 29th October 2017.

Join us for a full day of interactive workshops to ensure you are making the most of your membership and supporting our goal to demonstrate the global sector's continuous improvement.

The agenda will include:

• The launch of FIVE new global indicators

• How to establish your multi-stakeholder management group

• The importance of a robust materiality analysis

• Aggregation

• A panel discussion with members of the DSF Governors and Advisory Council

Book your place HERE

The DSF was invited to join with DSF member, Starbucks, to share our industry best practices with their dairy suppliers at their recent Supplier Summit in China. It was an extremely positive meeting with all participants keen to learn more about sustainability in the Chinese context and exploring ways the industry can collaborate to our achieve joint sustainability ambitions.  Ann Burkhart, ethical sourcing manager at Starbucks, stated that the workshop was a great start in supporting their dairy suppliers’ enthusiasm to do more to incorporate sustainability planning in their operational processes, ultimately benefiting from the ‘sustainability experience’.

This is a 2-day event to be held on 10th and 11th July in Huhhot, Inner Mongolia, coinciding with the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Mongolian Austonimous Region.

Recognising the efforts and tremendous progress made by Dairy Asia, this GDP meeting will have ‘sustainability’ in the Asian context at the heart of its program.

There will be speakers from the Government and the CEO of the Mengniu dairy business. In addition, Mr Thanawat Tiensin, Director International Cooperation, Department of Livestock Development of the Royal Thai Government, and current co-chair of the Dairy Asia initiative, will share the tremendous strides Dairy Asia members, encompassing some 13 Asian countries, are making.

This event is an ideal opportunity to hear presentations and analysis of the Asian dairy markets and associated trends and will provide a forum to appreciate how the sustainability of dairy businesses can benefit from being engaged with initiatives such as Dairy Asia. 

To book your place contact Kathy Laning at Global Dairy Platform HERE

The DSF member survey regarding global high-level indicators concluded May 20, 2017.  The survey garnered 19 responses from 18 organizations representing more than 12 countries.  The responders included producers, industry groups, processors, distributers, research organizations, and government entities.  Dr. Marty Matlock and his team are now analyzing the data based upon responder-identified priorities.  Comparisons of these priorities will define a common set of priority key performance indicators (KPIs) for global dairy production.  The results of the survey will be presented to DSF members through a series of webinars and a report beginning in June.

GASL is an initiative of the FAO, in which the DSF has been involvedright from the begining. It is a multistakeholder partnership, bringing together governments, international agencies (UN and World Bank), academics, NGOs and grass roots organisations, as well as private sector representatives.

The agenda works most effectively as a forum for sharing information, meeting people who are involved in initiatives around the world, and connecting like- minded organisations and individuals. If you visit the website http://www.livestockdialogue.org/ you will find that there are a number of action networks.

Chris Brown is the Sustainable Business Director at UK retailer ASDA and a member of the DSF Advisory Council.

You could be forgiven for thinking that the changing political landscape (take your pick) has waylaid some of the drive behind the sustainability business programmes. I think it is undoubtedly true that the mood music from certain leaderships have altered perceptions. However, the customers’ views are unlikely to have changed.  ASDA surveys a group of c.20k customers to gauge their views on sustainability issues. Over the five years the survey has been carried out the views haven’t changed much. If anything the responses are more supportive of the environmental agenda and, consequently, reflecting higher expectations of corporate organisations.

Members joined us for a webinar on the tricky subject of Farmer Engagement.

DSF members, Natalie Jones from Consorcio Lechero (Chile) and Tai Ullman from Land O'Lakes (US), very different parts of the dairying world, shared their experiences based on the approaches they have adopted in engaging farmers in their DSF journey.

Recordings of all members are available to members on the DSF Extranet HERE. You will need your member log-in details to access this.

The next webinar on The key challenges/opportunities to implementing your Sustainability priorities? (real-world examples from the various regions) will be held on Monday 14th August. Invitation will be sent out soon.