Following the announcement of Fonterra's annual results last month, Shelley and Kirsty joined four local regional managers from Fonterra at the Cambridge Rural Professionals meeting on Wednesday morning.

Aside from the financial result, the team gave an overview of The Co-operative Difference. This is a framework designed to help farmers produce high-quality, sustainable milk and aim to prepare farmers for changes needed in the future. The Framework has five areas of focus and when all five steps are achieved, the farm will receive recognition. The five areas include:

• Environment
• Animals
• Milk
• People and communities
• Co-op and Prosperity

Linked to this framework, Fonterra have announced the introduction of a Co-operative Difference Payment of up to 10 cents per kilgram of milk solids if the farm meets the Co-op's on-farm sustainability and value targets. Further details of how this payment will be paid are set to be released early in 2021 for the upcoming milk season.

Part of the presentation also discussed the environmental report that has recently been circulated to Fonterra Farmers. This report includes a unique Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions profit for each farm, along with a Nitrogen Risk Scorecard. Farms are also bench-marked against other similar farms to provide useful insights for farmers, and to help them identify opportunities for improvement on the farm.

If you've received your report and would like to understand what it means, check out the attached flyer from DairyNZ which is running events to help you do just that.