Regenerative farming supports healthier pasture and richer milk.
You are what you eat, according to the old saying. In fact, you’re also what you eat eats.
This is why Kiwi company Re Dairy is embracing regenerative farming. One of just a few remaining New Zealand-owned yoghurt brands in the country, with its products made from fresh whole milk from its own farm, Re Dairy is “doing dairy differently” by pioneering this holistic approach to farming at a commercial scale.
Thanks to regenerative farming, its cows are eating healthy pasture grown in healthy soil, and as a result they’re producing milk that contains more nutrients.
Re Dairy’s marketing manager and Head of Environment Clare Buchanan says trying regenerative farming was a no-brainer.
“We were motivated by the human health, environmental and people aspects of regenerative farming,” she says. “We’re seeing good results that show that this idea that healthier soils create healthier animals, healthier milk and potentially healthier people, is very powerful.”
Re Dairy is part of Align Farms, which is owned by the Buchanan and Roberts families and has 9x farms in Canterbury. Since its launch in 2012, the company has been keen to take a sustainable approach to farming.
In 2019 it partially converted one of its farms – Clareview, near Ashburton – to regenerative farming. This means doing several things differently, including not tilling the soil or adding synthetic fertiliser. Instead natural processes are employed to improve soil health such as using fungi and bacteria to recycle nutrients in the soil.
One big change is the pasture the cows eat. New Zealand pastures are typically ryegrass and white clover – at Clareview they instead plant eight to 15 species, including legumes, herbs, chicory and several grasses.
“We see that the cows really enjoy having a bit more variety in their diet and we see that there are more nutrients in the milk they are producing.”
Re Dairy has been gathering hard data through an independent split-farm trial designed to compare regenerative and conventional systems side by side. The trial draws on input from scientists across Lincoln University, AgResearch, Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research and others, ensuring the approach is robust and unbiased. As part of this, Re Dairy partnered with Lincoln University specifically on the milk-quality and human-health testing, which has shown higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids, phytonutrients and antioxidants in the milk produced under the regenerative system.
“The phytonutrients and antioxidants in the milk have come through at a much higher rate,” says Buchanan. “The fatty acids profiles – the omega-3s – are higher in our regenerative milk. It’s cool to confirm that taking care of the soil and what we’re feeding the animals does lead to a higher quality product.”
Buchanan’s all for eating well to improve health & wellbeing. She has Ehler’s Danlos Syndrome and has done a lot of digging into the different ways food, and how it is produced, can impact us. “I changed my diet about seven years ago and having seen how that improved my wellbeing really made me passionate about food production and how we nourish ourselves.”
“It’s good to know that you’re eating food that is good for you and not causing any issues. The more nutrients we can get, the better.”
Regenerative practices are also thought to offer wider environmental benefits. “There’s a lot of pressure on dairy farming to reduce its environmental impact,” points out Buchanan. “If the majority of farmers used regenerative farming practices, it would make a huge difference.”
Encouraging others in the industry to consider the benefits of regenerative farming is one of the reasons why Align Farms is sharing the findings from the Lincoln study online via its website and also through platforms like YouTube. It is publishing environmental, financial, social, animal health and milk quality data – including results showing that the nutrient loss from the soil is 50% less than the loss from soils farmed conventionally, and that greenhouse gases emitted are 30% lower than those from conventional farming.
“Being transparent about what we’re doing is a big part of the regenerative mindset and approach,” says Buchanan.
“To us, we are all in this together and we want to raise the whole industry. If we do this on our farm and nobody else does, there aren’t going to be any tangible benefits. But if most farmers are doing it we’ll see things like cleaner waterways and a lower impact on the environment.
“And by having an open dialogue, people can give us ideas and we can figure out areas where we can improve. There’s not a lot of information about regenerative farming in New Zealand so we are learning as we go.”
At the moment Re Dairy makes two probiotic yoghurt flavours – natural and dark berry – but is planning to launch others. Further down the track it wants to expand to other dairy products, including cottage and cream cheeses and sour cream.
“We’re not jumping in the deep end straight away but there are lots of possibilities and it’s very exciting to be a part of this.”
