A new brand of fresh milk from a new dairy cooperative has been launched in the market this week.
Green Pastures, the latest label to hit Australia’s fresh milk market, is the product of Victorian dairy farming families who share a belief in sustainable farming.
Coles has already debuted Green Pastures in the dairy section of its supermarkets this week, according to a report on ABC News. The brand is now available in the chain’s 400 stores across Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia and Canberra.
The five farming families who started the venture also have another thing in common—they are staunch advocates of using farm-made compost for their pastures. The farmers have switched from using conventional synthetic fertilisers to using farm-made compost, produced mostly from their own cowshed’s waste matter.
“We’ve gone back to grass roots and started with the source – the soil,” said Reggie Davis, a fourth-generation farmer whose family takes care of 600 cows. His pastures are sprayed with the nutrient-rich liquid compost.
“Better soil means we grow lush, nutrient-rich grass and with better grass going in, means we can produce wholesome milk that is better for you and your family.”
Mr. Davis and four other farmers from South-west Victoria have decided to package and market their own milk brand based on their shared philosophy and farming methods, and the result is the Green Pasture label.
Farmers who want to send their milk to the new venture must be able to comply with the cooperative’s sustainable farming methods.
“We have strict guidelines,” Mr. Davis said. “Farmers must use responsible farming techniques, have a waste management plan and a nutrient budget.”
“These farmers have gone out on a very big limb to change the way they farm entirely to a green, sustainable farming methodology that reduces or in some cases replaces chemical fertilisers with a beautiful, organic, compost made on farms by recycling all the waste from the dairy,” according to the Green Pastures Movement Facebook page.
The farmers have the capacity to produce 22 million litres of milk annually, according to the ABC report, and the milk is processed and packaged under contract by Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory.
Green Pastures milk comes in 1-litre and 2-litre varieties. The Green Pastures Full Cream Milk variety is 96% fat free, while the Reduced Fat variety is 98.5% fat free. Both are high in calcium, according to the brand’s Facebook page.
