29.10.2014
3. Future Forum for Milk
At the 3rd Future Forum for Milk, with the business and science experts from the Hochwald Cooperative, 200 milk producers discussed the subject of sustainability with a view to its practical application. With the “Future Forum for Milk” series, Hochwald is taking responsibility for and developing a practically-oriented sustainability programme for milk producers through dialogue with milk producers and experts. Given that customers, milk producers and consumers have diverse and consistently rising expectations from industrially processed products, speakers from all areas of the food industry highlighted the possibilities and opportunities for bringing these demands together. “Sustainability doesn’t have the same meaning for everyone - this forum intends to be a platform of communication between the disciplines, said Hans Jürgen Sehn, Chairman of the Board of Hochwald Foods GmbH, who opened the 3rd Future Forum for Milk with these words.  Peter Alexander from Nestlé started off the series of talks by presenting the consumer expectations and the extensive sustainability activities of the global organisation. In the Netherlands, where dairies have developed a common sustainability concept, more progress has been made than in Germany. Geert Hartlief from the Dutch cooperation partner DOC Kaas presented this sustainability concept, which is called the Melkkompass. Kristine Kindler from the Landesvereinigung der Milchwirtschaft Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony State Association for the Dairy Industry) discussed a German approach for introducing sustainability as an additional module in the milk quality management system. Mark Trageser of the Hochwald Milch eG Youth Council presented the Young Talent Panel’s ideas surrounding a proprietary sustainability system. Eckhard Heuser from the German Milk Industry Association offered a comparison of the sustainability requirements of the international markets. A roundtable event with the milk producers of Hochwald Milch eG yielded a controversial discussion of the subject of sustainability. The plenary session was particularly engaged in discussing potential arrangements for the control of a sustainability system and the cost allocation.