Fonterra case study

NVFv listens and engages deeply with businesses in the region and draws on the University of Melbourne's (UoM) expertise to solve issues faced by agri-food businesses in the value chain to
build skills, create jobs and increase economic prosperity.

The purpose-built venture aims to create high-value jobs in the region over four years empowering the community with the knowledge, skills and resources to develop tangible solutions to problems in the agri-food sector.

Based in Shepparton, NVFv has been established to bring together research and innovation in science, technology, engineering and policy to enhance the Hume region's agri-food businesses and deliver economic value to the area.

The Identified Problem

Dairy cows around the world are fed a variety of feeds in order to produce milk. Grass (or pasture) is one of the feeds utilised by Australian dairy farmers as it is readily available and nutritious for their dairy cows. Many other countries around the world also feed their cows grass with some countries making claims that diary produced by grass-fed cows is better for human health. Many of these countries are trying to establish a way to measure the amount of grass in the diet.

Currently manually recording the amount of grass in the diet is the only option and is seen as another  laborious  job for dairy farmers. Investigating options for digital data collection has also been explored to make the job easier, more auditable and able to provide valuable information for both the dairy farmer, milk company and consumer.

Through the NVFv a total of five UoM students, studying Agriculture, Food Science and Food and Packaging Innovation, were set the task of helping Fonterra Australia ascertain who
in the world were making grass-fed health claims, what the claims were and how to measure the amount of grass in a cow's diet each year. Students also investigated what data dairy farmers collect already and ascertained whether there is currently a way to enter grass eaten simply.

With Sensand Technologies' help the study confirmed expectations, that there is no easy way to collect this data. However, the project demonstrated that scope does exist to measure it in the future and there is an opportunity to build on the study's findings to help Fonterra Australia to collect this valuable information from their dairy farm suppliers.

Overview Of Investment

The investment so far has been focused on linking the expertise located at Parkville to the agri-food businesses in the Hume region. Time and money has also been put into running events intended to create awareness of the program and the gaps it is attempting to address. These events are also intended to foster a stronger and more diverse agri-food network through the hosting of interns within the region. This helps link students more closely with the industry to understand where industry needs lie and prepare them for potential future employment.

Impact

NVFv offers a range of unpaid internships for Masters students currently enrolled through the University of Melbourne. The internships are offered through several agri-food businesses located within the Hume region.

Through this internship experience the students involved gained valuable work integrated knowledge about the dairy supply chain and the functioning of a dairy farm. Beyond learning core industry information students were also able to develop their networking skills during the visit to Shepparton that formed part of the internship program. On this visit they acquired information about future career prospects in dairy and agriculture industry.

The program helped students to form a greater appreciation for the value Australian and international dairy farmers place on grass-fed cows and how much technology and data dairy farmers currently contend with. Students researched how this could be streamlined to improve productivity and ultimately profitability for dairy farmers.

Students involved in the program also explain that they have learnt more about how research can be tied to business development and general entrepreneurial and business skills such as office etiquette and conducting client meetings. These skills can be hard to develop just in the classroom and therefore have a huge impact on the students involved and their future career paths.