Fonterra investing in Synthetic milk

[harm_less]

Fonterra have put the cat among the pidgeons with this announcement. With synthetically produced milk knocking at their door it is probably a wise move, if not a little late. The reliance on cows for milk protein products is fast coming to an end.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming...f23aa6f286

[Lilith7]

We live in 'interesting times.'

[Oldfellah]

I seriously dont think Fonterra would be investing in a start-up company developing non-dairy proteins using precision fermentation. Milk and milk powder and dairy are their core business and I refuse to believe they will deviate from that, and how do I know this, before retirement I worked for them for 25 years.

[Praktica]

I used to live near a dairy company which got into the margarine business - they even looked into growing soybeans.

[SueDonim]

The key point about Fonterra is that it is a co-operative of the farmers that was set up to manage the milk products they produce. While looking into the feasibility of non-dairy products is a good thing, I would not expect the farmers that own Fonterra to be too happy about them being part of it. There was one quoted in the article, but I suspect he might be an outlier who hasn't thought it through. The core business is dealing with milk and milk powder and it's not that long ago that some of the companies producing value-added products were sold off.

[C_T_Russell]

Fonterra have put the cat among the pidgeons with this announcement. With synthetically produced milk knocking at their door it is probably a wise move, if not a little late. The reliance on cows for milk protein products is fast coming to an end.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming...f23aa6f286

Thats disgusting, just confirms our governments (and the UN's) anti-farming narrative.
All comes down to UN agenda 2030...

[Lilith7]

Fonterra have put the cat among the pidgeons with this announcement. With synthetically produced milk knocking at their door it is probably a wise move, if not a little late. The reliance on cows for milk protein products is fast coming to an end.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming...f23aa6f286

Thats disgusting, just confirms our governments (and the UN's) anti-farming narrative.
All comes down to UN agenda 2030...

Oh...dear!

[harm_less]

Thats disgusting, just confirms our governments (and the UN's) anti-farming narrative.
All comes down to UN agenda 2030...

Oh...dear!

You did note the C T in their username?

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The key point about Fonterra is that it is a co-operative of the farmers that was set up to manage the milk products they produce. While looking into the feasibility of non-dairy products is a good thing, I would not expect the farmers that own Fonterra to be too happy about them being part of it. There was one quoted in the article, but I suspect he might be an outlier who hasn't thought it through. The core business is dealing with milk and milk powder and it's not that long ago that some of the companies producing value-added products were sold off.

Have a read through the comments following that Stuff piece to see what farmers' views are on this situation.

[Zurdo]

Co-operatives are the foundation of Socialism....

[Lilith7]

Oh...dear!

You did note the C T in their username?

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The key point about Fonterra is that it is a co-operative of the farmers that was set up to manage the milk products they produce. While looking into the feasibility of non-dairy products is a good thing, I would not expect the farmers that own Fonterra to be too happy about them being part of it. There was one quoted in the article, but I suspect he might be an outlier who hasn't thought it through. The core business is dealing with milk and milk powder and it's not that long ago that some of the companies producing value-added products were sold off.

Have a read through the comments following that Stuff piece to see what farmers' views are on this situation.

I'd missed those...had a look & found this gem:


"100%. if only people really knew the true horror of where their diary comes from."

Why yes, all those baby trees cruelly murdered, massacred in the name of the daily diary. I blame Samuel Pepys...

[SueDonim]

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The key point about Fonterra is that it is a co-operative of the farmers that was set up to manage the milk products they produce. While looking into the feasibility of non-dairy products is a good thing, I would not expect the farmers that own Fonterra to be too happy about them being part of it. There was one quoted in the article, but I suspect he might be an outlier who hasn't thought it through. The core business is dealing with milk and milk powder and it's not that long ago that some of the companies producing value-added products were sold off.

Have a read through the comments following that Stuff piece to see what farmers' views are on this situation.

I don't see many comments that look like they're farmers - they are probably out working on their farms and too busy to read Stuff. I don't either (read Stuff that is).

Some of the comments are referring to Fonterra apparently being late to the game, which shows that the people don't understand that Fonterra's sole purpose is to look after its farmers rather than go in direct competition. Then there are those hung up on all the other issues like animal welfare and the environment. These are also important, but Fonterra's direction in relation to these needs to also include loyalty to its shareholders.

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Co-operatives are the foundation of Socialism....

Yes, they are, and we see the cost of them getting too big and not supporting their members as they should. Currently thinking apartment corporate bodies and the kiwifruit industry as well as what Fonterra is doing. The cooperatives start out with good intentions, then the owners lose control, and their benefits, when they grow.

[Oldfellah]

No matter what they do all I can say is they treated me fairly they look after their staff, they have their own super scheme which is more than other companies have and on my retirement I walked out with a pretty penny, it had to be Penny because Rhonda just said help me! 

[harm_less]

This presentation covers the implications of precision fermentation of proteins, including milk, on the environment and farming business model. I cued it to start at that subject but the rest of the video is well worth watching if you're interested in the future of energy and transportation.




Fo the content that relates to precision fermentation of proteins skip to about the 53:00 mark.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

With the growing market for dairy alternatives Fonterra would be silly not to have devoted some of its resources to exploring possibilities. It doesn't mean they are pulling out of dairy products anytime soon, it simply means they are keeping in step with a changing world.

Which is what any intelligent corporate - co op or not - would do. 

Nothing surer to kill a company than not be aware of what the market is doing.

[C_T_Russell]

Synthetic milk is a huge conflict of interest.
None of that money will go the the farmers.
It would put them out of pocket.
I cant even believe people would be deluded enough to use the stuff.
The way things are going we wont even be able to get real milk at this rate and then next thing will be synthetic meat or lab grown meat.
Kinda sounds like the movie 1984 where they were all eating synthetic food.
George Orwell was correct, thats where this world is heading if we dont put this to a stop.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Considering the reality that we cannot grow enough food now to feed the world population, synthetics may well be the only way we can stop future famines and the loss of vast numbers of people. We cannot ignore the fact that once our changing planet makes agriculture a greater challenge than we have ever faced, we must be prepared to use other methods to feed ourselves.

Technology is the future.

[Oldfellah]

We produce enough food for 40 million of us so no way will we starve.

https://tinyurl.com/2ksgdu3k

[harm_less]

Synthetic milk is a huge conflict of interest.
None of that money will go the the farmers.
It would put them out of pocket.
I cant even believe people would be deluded enough to use the stuff.
The way things are going we wont even be able to get real milk at this rate and then next thing will be synthetic meat or lab grown meat.
Kinda sounds like the movie 1984 where they were all eating synthetic food.
George Orwell was correct, thats where this world is heading if we dont put this to a stop.

If you'd bothered to watch the video I posted you would be aware that precision fermentation is nothing new. It has been used to make insulin for decades and also the cultures used to make most cheeses so you've probably already been consuming products containing PF ingredients for years.

Another aspect is that a large proportion of milk is used for drug and industrial manufacturing as well as in highly processed food manufacture so those dairy components are so heavily modified, whether they are from cows or factories is hardly relevant.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

We produce enough food for 40 million of us so no way will we starve.

https://tinyurl.com/2ksgdu3k

Really?

My Dad was a young officer fresh out of Sandhurst when he was sent to Berlin to interview the street kids who had survived the war without adult supervision. His stories showed us kids just how easy it is to starve following a catastrophic collapse of our immediate world.

We already let thousands starve to death every day. They just aren't 'us'. They still die though. Horribly.

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Synthetic milk is a huge conflict of interest.
None of that money will go the the farmers.
It would put them out of pocket.
I cant even believe people would be deluded enough to use the stuff.
The way things are going we wont even be able to get real milk at this rate and then next thing will be synthetic meat or lab grown meat.
Kinda sounds like the movie 1984 where they were all eeating synthetic food.
George Orwell was correct, thats where this world is heading if we dont put this to a stop.

If you'd bothered to watch the video I posted you would be aware that precision fermentation is nothing new. It has been used to make insulin for decades and also the cultures used to make most cheeses so you've probably already been consuming products containing PF ingredients for years.

Another aspect is that a large proportion of milk is used for drug and industrial manufacturing as well as in highly processed food manufacture so those dairy components are so heavily modified, whether they are from cows or factories is hardly relevant.

So true. Especially if the latest vegan meat substitute type products are considered.

More natural? My arse...

[Oh_hunnihunni]

So this is where the 40 million thing came from?

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/1312863...elves-bare

40 million x 200 is the approximate world population of 8 billion. We need 200 New Zealands?