A new high-efficiency milk-powder plant will enable Fonterra to dump less milk by-products, a Taranaki farmer says.
The Daily News reported last week Fonterra was disposing of excess milk by-products because of high volumes of milk being produced.
Some by-products are being buried on land at Fonterra’s Whareroa site and some pumped out to sea near Hawera, under resource consents issued by the Taranaki Regional Council.
Farmer and Fonterra shareholders councillor Nick Barrett, of Omata, said a new milk-powder dryer at Fonterra’s Pahiatua site would help ease peak milk-processing pressure in the lower North Island.
The new dryer, which would join the existing two at Pahiatua, would process an additional 2.5 million litres a day.
Fonterra spokesman Mike Burgess said there was no fixed date for when the new dryer would be built.
That Fonterra was having to dump by-products was a sign of a bumper season, Mr Barrett said.
«It’s been a sensational start to the year. A lot of farmers are up 10 to 20 per cent production from last year.»
Mr Barrett had not heard of any farmers who were concerned about by-products being dumped.
«The key thing is getting milk picked up.»
He said Fonterra were coping with the excess by using different product mixtures to process the milk they were given.
Regional council director of resource consent Fred McClay said Fonterra needed to make progress on the new dryer.
«With the increase in milk, I think they need to look at the capacity they have.»
He said the by-products could go to other uses, such as stock feed, but those alternatives had limited capacity. Mr Burgess could not say when Fonterra would stop disposing of by-products.
Source: Stuff
