‘Milk is milk, but not all milk is the same’. For the Campina brand in the Netherlands and Belgium, the difference in a product as everyday as milk begins with the dairy farmer and his or her cows. This puts the consumer back in touch with the origin of milk. Can this be qualified as a production, process or chain innovation?
‘Milk is milk, but not all milk is the same’. For the Campina brand in the Netherlands and Belgium, the difference in a product as everyday as milk begins with the dairy farmer and his or her cows. This puts the consumer back in touch with the origin of milk. Can this be qualified as a production, process or chain innovation?
Different milk composition due to modified feed combined with outdoor grazing
Campina is the largest liquid milk brand in the Netherlands (fresh milk) and Belgium (long-life milk). In the Netherlands, Campina’s milk comes from some 400 Dutch cattle farmers and in Belgium from some 180 Belgian dairy businesses. Our dairy farmers, who produce milk for the Campina brand, give their cows modified feed containing flax, combined with outdoor grazing. They are thus consciously working to create a different milk composition. This is in line with the lifestyle choices of western consumers: healthy, tasty food for consumers as well as caring for animals and the landscape.
Purely natural
Campina milk is milk and as such is purely natural. Because milk is a natural product, its composition can be affected by nature, changing with the seasons and the weather, for example. The difference in the composition of Campina milk and standard milk changes throughout the year, but on an annual basis, Campina milk must contain at least 20% more unsaturated fat than standard milk.
Extra research into composition
This is why we conduct extra tests of the composition of Campina milk. In the Netherlands, cattle farmers receive information on the composition of their milk quickly via the member internet site, ‘melkweb’. In Belgium, dairy farmers receive this information daily via the milk testing stations. This allows dairy farmers to monitor the development of the milk composition compared to standard milk. If necessary, they can make modifications by adjusting the feed.
The better the fat composition, the higher the compensation dairy farmers receive for the additional costs involved in providing more expensive feed. If the dairy farmer achieves the right composition with lots of outdoor grazing and little additional feed, the payment will exceed the extra costs incurred. Apart from generating a sense of satisfaction, it also generates additional income for the farmer. This is how we encourage the dairy farmers who produce Campina milk to graze their cows outdoors as much as possible.
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Campina is the largest separate milk flow in the Netherlands and the largest individual milk flow in Belgium. The entire production chain is involved.
We keep Campina milk separate from our standard milk. And after the milk arrives at the factory, we also process it separately from other milk. In Belgium, the separate flow concerns long-life milk and in the Netherlands, pasteurised milk (commonly referred to as ‘fresh milk’). In the Netherlands, Campina milk is also used to make Campina buttermilk, Campina yoghurt, Campina custard, Campina porridge and Campina Botergoud butter. And in Belgium Campina milk is used to make Campina cream.
We work with a number of large animal feed manufacturers on the special supplementary feed the farmers give their cows. With their cows and animal feed, dairy farmers lay the foundation for the Campina brand’s ability to distinguish itself in the market. To achieve this, most dairy farmers need the expertise and the feed from their feed suppliers. In turn, those feed suppliers must focus on achieving that distinction in the market, which from an economic perspective must also be of interest to all partners in the chain.
We consider it a chain innovation that FrieslandCampina works together with several hundred of its dairy farmers and a large number of animal feed manufacturers to provide consumers with several million litres of Campina milk with a different fatty acid composition every year.
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The idea behind this milk came about in a very natural way. For years, it has been known that if cows graze outdoors in the spring, the milk they produce has a different fatty acid content compared to the rest of the year. The special composition of the spring grass also gives the milk a special composition, with more unsaturated fatty acids (and thus fewer saturated fatty acids). Feed therefore influences the composition of the milk: not just in the spring, but throughout the year.
For decades, western countries have had the motto ‘Milk is milk and all milk is the same’. Even though brands derive their strength by distinguishing themselves intrinsically and emotionally from the competition. And even though insiders were well aware that milk is never the same – particularly the composition of the fat content, which changes throughout the year.
This led us in 2003 to join forces with some of our dairy farmers in Belgium to work on the idea that the composition of milk could be influenced. We found that cows that were given special, natural supplementary feed combined with outdoor grazing produced milk with a different fatty acid composition. Even though Belgium is not known as a country of avid milk drinkers, the concept took off among its consumers. Campina, which was already the largest milk brand in the Netherlands, developed into the largest milk brand in Belgium as well. In 2007, the time was ripe to apply the concept in the Netherlands, too, but with Dutch dairy farmers, Dutch cows, Dutch feed suppliers and of course fresh Dutch Campina milk. And in the Netherlands as well, the initiative bolstered the position of the Campina brand.
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