Dairy Diary: July business update

What’s NEW in the dairy farming world? We report on the opening of a new dairy factory in Indonesia, the launch of a real-time heat stress tracker for dairy cows, and a recently published book that considers frontiers in agri-food supply chains. Read an update on these developments and more on the latest dairy sector news…

FrieslandCampina opens new Frisian Flag Indonesia dairy plant

A new dairy factory of FrieslandCampina subsidiary Frisian Flag Indonesia has been inaugurated in West Java, at an investment of €257 million. This facility is the company’s largest investment in its international production network and will serve as a central hub for Southeast Asia. The plant spans 25.4 ha and is set to process 400,000 kgs of fresh milk daily. It will produce 700 million kgs of dairy products annually, with the potential to grow to 1 billion kgs. Green innovations (e.g., biomass boilers, wastewater recycling, and solar panels) will achieve a 45% reduction in CO₂ emissions, a 22% electricity saving, and a 25% reduction in water consumption.

ADM announces traceable soybean meal and oil for European customers

With EU deforestation regulations coming into effect on 30 December, ADM announces that it is offering verified, segregated, traceable soybean meal and oil to European customers. In March, ADM launched a fully traceable North American soybean programme, re:source, which enrolled almost 5,300 farmers encompassing more than 4.6 million acres across 15 states for the 2024 season. The programme utilises technology and capabilities to verify, trace and segregate participating beans from farms to their final destination.

Industry leaders collaborate to launch real-time heat stress tracker

Photo: Galebreaker and Phibro Animal Health

Galebreaker and Phibro Animal Health have developed a free online Temperature-Humidity Index (THI) tool, THI Live, for farmers to monitor, track and mitigate heat stress risk in cows. The companies have collaborated to install internet-enabled temperature and humidity dataloggers in sheds across the UK, the Netherlands and Belgium. The tool combines temperature and humidity to give a measure of how uncomfortable a given situation is for the animals.

smaXtec announces in-vivo health management with closed-loop system

At the heart of smaXtec lies the ‘bolus’, a sophisticated sensor measuring directly inside the cow’s reticulum, continuously monitoring parameters, including inner body temperature, water intake and drinking cycles, rumination and activity. The latest patent-pending development from smaXtec is a micromechanical device integrated into the bolus, which reacts dynamically to the cow’s needs so that when demand arises it releases medication or feed supplements precisely as required in real time. smaXtec is seeking development partners to explore applications for this innovative drug and feed additive release system. The company’s open call for collaboration invites experts to contribute to the next phase of innovation in health management within the dairy industry.

New book asks how resilient global agri-food supply chains are

A new book, Frontiers in agri-food supply chains: Frameworks and case studies, has been published. Edited by Professor Sander de Leeuw, Dr Renzo Akkerman and Dr Rodrigo Romero-Silva, Wageningen University, the Netherlands, the book provides a comprehensive overview of the challenges facing agri-food supply chains, including the need to be more sustainable in light of the high environmental costs of global distribution. The authors also address the external factors that can impact the logistics and performance of supply chains, including political developments, international conflicts and pandemics, and reviews the main agri-food supply chains used in different regions around the world, focussing on those implanted in the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

Novus delivering more attention to distribution partners

Adam Banaszak has joined Novus as director of global channel management. Banaszak comes to Novus from Trouw Nutrition where he served as general manager responsible for all aspects of the company’s export business across major markets in Asia Pacific. He is based in Thailand.