South Australian organic dairy business Paris Creek Farms is sourcing its milk from carbon neutral dairy farms. CEO Chantale Millard explains how it was achieved and what it represents.
There is an ongoing shift in attitudes and preferences of consumers to purchase products that are environmentally and community conscious, as well as still tasting great. It’s important that businesses do their part in helping make the community a better place for future generations.
For Paris Creek Farms Organic Dairy, sustainability and nurturing the land has always been at the heart of our operations.
By using bio-dynamic organic farming principles, our farmers use one of the most natural, regenerative, sustainable farming methods available, and we are continuously looking for ways to improve our farming and manufacturing practices to further our sustainability journey.
Now, all our 100 per cent organic dairy products are made using milk from South Australian carbon neutral dairy farms.
It is incredibly exciting for us to have reached this milestone. Having worked closely with our farmers to achieve this status, which was accomplished due to the highly regenerative nature of bio-dynamic farming practices, together with high levels of animal welfare, and less cows per hectare than conventional farming.
This was supplemented in part initially by the purchase of carbon credits, including carbon credits from the Organic and Regenerative Investment Cooperative (ORICoop).
With one of our farmers already carbon neutral in their own right, the other farms are implementing measures that work towards carbon neutrality, and in the meantime Paris Creek Farms is purchasing carbon credits to completely offset any carbon footprint.
This is just one of the first steps in further reducing our carbon footprint and helping to fight climate change and the business will now review is processing operations to determine ways that it can reduce its carbon footprint also, so that it can continue to provide consumers with a 100 per cent feel-good option – sustainable, natural, and delicious.
In the future, we think that the sustainability of everyday products will continue to increase in importance to consumers, so they don’t have to sacrifice delicious flavour for their ethics.
There will be an expectation from consumers that businesses are being environmentally and socially responsible.
At Paris Creek Farms we are proud to have reached this stage of having milk from carbon neutral dairy farms, and are continuing to work on our sustainability journey, including investigating opportunities to utilise 100 per cent recycled materials in our packaging.
This article first appeared in the May 2022 edition of Food & Drink Business.
After publication of the magazine, Maggie Beer Holdings said an internal review decided Paris Creek Farms and St David's Dairy were not core business and it would be looking to offload the assets.
Listen to the Food & Drink Business Podcast episode with Maggie Beer Holdings CEO Chantale Miller here or on your preferred podcast platform.
