from Jeanette Fitzsimons

With the world committing at Paris to strive to keep global warming down to 1.5 degrees, the pressure is on Fonterra to stop increasing its coal use and start a gradual phase out. It cannot afford the reputational damage that will result from building its huge new drying plant at Studholme, increasing its coal use to some 600,000 tonne a year.

There is another way that could be more profitable for the company and especially for its farmers, while lightening its environmental footprint. The key is to substitute “value” for “volume”.

On 30 November NZ Farmers’ Weekly ran a big article where they lauded their achievements in energy efficiency, and complained that to get off coal was too big a challenge. We disagree.

See my response in last week’s issue: https://farmersweekly.co.nz/article/energy-challenges?p=24