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The Aldi Süd Group and FrieslandCampina are launching a multi-year partnership to support dairy farmers in Germany and the Netherlands to strengthen farm resilience, improve soil health and biodiversity and reduce on-farm greenhouse gas emissions.
The partnership will support an initial group of 60 dairy farmers, with further expansion beginning from 1 January 2027. Representing a joint investment in the future of European dairy farming, it aims to demonstrate how collaboration across the value chain can accelerate progress toward reducing the sector’s environmental footprint.
It includes a three-year agricultural programme to support German FrieslandCampina member dairy farmers to implement new farming practices and reduce inputs, and a five-year carbon reduction programme supporting Dutch FrieslandCampina member dairy farmers drive emissions reductions on participating farms.
Participating farmers will receive tailored advice, financial support and training to help them implement the changes. Combining regenerative agriculture and carbon reduction initiatives is intended to help farmers adopt more resilient farming practices while boosting productivity and economic viability.
The partners will share insights from across the dairy sector to encourage wider adoption of effective practices, with a longer-term goal to help encourage a transition toward lower-emission dairy farming more broadly.
The regenerative agriculture programme in Germany has seen 30 FrieslandCampina member farms in Germany take part, aiming to improve soil health, biodiversity and water stewardship. The partners plan to extend this to 40 farms from January 2027. Each farm is following a tailored transition plan based on its specific opportunities for improvement, with measures such as grass-clover rotations with less fertiliser, improved soil structure and planting hedges.
The programme follows the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platform’s outcome-based Regenerating Together framework.
Meanwhile, in the Netherlands, 32 FrieslandCampina member farms are participating in the carbon reduction programme, with plans for extension from January. Measures to do reduce emissions will include on-farm use of HVO renewable diesel, and improved feed and manure management, on top of actions already carried out as part of the cooperative’s sustainability programme, Foqus Planet.
Mireille Einwachter, chief farm and sustainability officer at FrieslandCampina, said: “Farmers are at the heart of the transition towards more resilient, sustainable, and lower-emission dairy farming. But the transition cannot be realised by farmers alone: it requires long-term commitment and investment across the value chain.”
“Together with the Aldi Süd Group, we are turning shared ambitions into action by combining sustainability objectives, commercial investment and practical support for farmers.”
