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A-ware Belgium wants to take further steps towards sustainability
Royal A-ware wants to take further steps in Belgium this year to make its dairy chains more sustainable. It does not want to saddle suppliers with hard requirements, but rather stimulate sustainability initiatives with extra premiums
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It is an approach that has already proven its success in the Netherlands. The intended adjustment should take more shape in the second half of this year.
A-ware currently has a number of milk flows in Belgium. In the summer there is a meadow milk flow and dairy processor Olympia (part of A-ware) started supplying cream for the production of Ben & Jerry's ice cream in Unilever's Caring Dairy program in 2021.
Step by step more
Since then, steps have been taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and follow-up agreements have been made. Dairy farmers who supply the Caring Dairy milk flow will gradually make even more efforts to promote biodiversity and climate in the coming years. In collaboration with Unilever and Royal A-ware, dairy farmers receive an extra (increasing) premium on top of the regular premiums.
A-ware is currently in discussions with customers who are helping to make the dairy chain more sustainable and link milk flows to it. The company does not yet want to link a specific percentage of milk or farmers to this. Royal A-ware believes that dairy farmers should always be paid for the efforts they make in the field of sustainability. The aim is to encourage suppliers through a sustainability premium.
Footprint premium
The company is investigating the possibilities of an additional 'footprint premium' in Belgium. The latter has already been introduced in the Netherlands and encourages dairy farmers to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. A-ware's Dairy Academy also plays a role in this. Dairy farmers strengthen their professional knowledge through workshops and receive practical tools for introducing innovations in the field of sustainability.
The use of A-ware may mean that more different milk flows will emerge in the near future. In the Netherlands this is something that has existed for much longer. In Belgium, this development is still in its infancy. In terms of logistics and processing, this also requires adjustments for A-ware. More will be known about this later.