Message from Donald Moore, Chairman

Although we are about to launch our first Annual Report, we recognise that the Dairy Sustainability Framework still has a great deal to deliver if we are to achieve our vision; the more we deliver, the more we learn and realise the great challenges and opportunities ahead.

In addition to the Annual Report, and to ensure we are connecting with our global dairy colleagues, we have recently published versions of our Information Brochure in both Spanish - our thanks to Fepale for your support in translating and printing - and in Chinese.

In addition to this, I was privileged to be invited to engage with the Chilean dairy sector at their recent conference, CHILELACTEO 2015, in Valdivia, Chile. Read on for a brief report.

The Framework is working hard to achieve the global alignment and connection of the dairy sector. We plan to launch our Annual Report in July- it will be available on our website.

On a recent trip to Chile, Donald participated in two events as Chief Executive of the Global Dairy Platform, (DSF) and as Chairman of DSF.

Firstly, he attended Chilelácteo 2015, a dairy farmer Conference organized by the Federation of Dairy Farmers (FEDELECHE). There, he presented the challenges facing the future of the dairy industry and the role that the GDAA has developed, including the work conducted by the DSF. There was an interesting discussion including how the work in sustainability could be better organized and which areas should be prioritized.

Next, Donald attended a meeting with several players in the Chilean dairy industry including dairy plants (Nestle, Soprole, Colun and Watt´s), the Federation of Dairy Farmers, the Agriculture Research Institute (INIA) and the government, through the Office of Agricultural Policies (ODEPA).

After introducing the work of the DSF, an agreement was made to establish a Committee (managed for the Sustainability Committee of the Consorcio Lechero, including farmers, processing companies, other private companies, and the government through ODEPA). As a first step, the Committee will contact the DSF to ask for support in reviewing the current initiatives developed in Chile and to prioritize the work for the future.

Our thanks to Octavio Oltra H. Med. Veterinario, PhD

The DSF wishes to ensure that those who join are genuinely committed to helping us demonstrate dairy’s positive contribution to the sustainability challenge and, importantly, quantify our continuous improvement.

It is important that the dairy sector is recognized for its diversity and the wide range of organizations operating across the different levels of the value chain and, as such, we cannot expect the same outcomes from every organization/grouping that wishes to join us in this ambitious initiative.

We have therefore established two categories of membership of the DSF:

As you are aware, the DSF will be reporting on the aggregated sustainability journey of the global dairy sector.  

Due to the flexible nature of the Framework’s operation (ie, each member will generate its own KPIs and metrics for its own local situation), the DSf needs to generate ‘common’ metrics which can be used by members as part of their evaluation process under each of the 11 Sustainability Criteria.  

Annually, the results will be collected and aggregated to effectively build the picture of progression of the dairy sector for each of the Sustainability Criteria. 

Over time, we will be able to establish a trend, clearly demonstrating the continuous improvement of the sector's sustainability.

Instead of trying to establish 11 metrics at once, it has been agreed that over the next 12 months, the DSF will develop three metrics - one for each of the following sustainability pillars: 

• Greenhouse gas emissions – this is relatively straight forward as there is already guidance from the IDF on calculating GHG emissions for dairy farming and processing
• Market Development / Rural economies (only one of these will be introduced in the next year)
• Animal care

The Dairy Working Group of SAI Platform continues to implement pilots of the Dairy Sustainability Framework.

The flexibility of the Framework to accommodate membership from dairy sector organisations. be they just starting their sustainability journey, or have been working on the subject, is definitely one of its strengths.

It is recognised that different organisations will enter the membership commitment process at a number of different levels.