Started five years ago, Lead with Pride is Synlait’s flagship programme, requiring suppliers meet prescribed requirements for environment, milk quality, animal health and welfare, and social responsibility.
The agreement with Ecan is the first in New Zealand between a regional authority and a processing company, Ecan chief executive Bill Bayfield said.
Lead With Pride is an ISO accredited programme, providing a robust and consistent assessment of farm environment plans (FEPs) prepared under the Land & Water Regional Plan, he said.
This recognition of the programme’s integrity and high standards was fantastic news for Synlait, managing director John Penno said. The group was “well ahead of the game’’ on environmental safeguards.
It represented best practice in looking after animals, protecting the environment, caring for people on farms, food safety, and milk quality.
About 200 farms supply milk to Synlait’s Dunsandel processing plant, and 50 of them are part of the Lead With Pride programme. By the end of the current July 31 financial year, the number is expected to grow to more than one-third of the supply farms.
Bayfield said about 3000 FEPs had been put in place since the land and water plan became operational in 2012, to ensure the correct management practices were in place to improve regional water quality.
They are required for farms with a higher risk of leaching nutrients, covering animal effluent discharge, water take and use, land use for farming, and nutrient discharge from an irrigation scheme.
To achieve the Ecan approval, Synlait had to submit an application and supporting evidence that Lead With Pride suppliers had sufficient control over their operations so that additional farm audits were no longer required.
Ecan also said that the New Zealand Institute of Primary Industry Management (NZIPIM) would also have its farm management systems advice work certified, leading to a more streamlined and less expensive application process.
