Cash in on healthy grass fed milk, if Government permits

Grass fed milk has been validated as healthy according to a new study from Harvard University’s School of Public Health. Yet Federated Farmers is concerned the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) compromises New Zealand’s ability to cash in.

“Research from Harvard University’s School of Public Health has shown that cows fed on fresh grass, in other words the New Zealand system, produce milk with five times as much unsaturated fat,” says Lachlan McKenzie, Federated Farmers dairy chairperson.

“Lab based research suggests these unsaturated fats, known as Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA), protect the heart and actually aid weight loss. It’s also great news for our beef farmers as grass-fed beef also contains higher concentrations of CLA’s.

“The study by Harvard University School of Public Health found that those with the highest concentrations of CLAs had a statistically reduced risk of heart attack too at 36 percent.

"Given the New Zealand system, including loose-house farms, is overwhelmingly based on natural food of cows, grass, I’m excited to read Hannia Campos of Harvard’s School of Public Health say that ‘more emphasis should be given to this type of feeding’.

“It’s yet more evidence that the natural innate qualities of milk combined with New Zealand’s reputation, built over a century of producing quality exports is our brand and not some jingle.

“New Zealand has a golden opportunity to differentiate itself at the higher end of the market, but that’s hard when the emissions trading scheme (ETS) applies an artificial handbrake.

“The ETS does nothing to enhance our international reputation but reports like these do.

“Where’s our Government’s research and promotional efforts to build upon these studies? We put precious little into direct research but Government can find well over a billion of our own dollars to implement the ETS tax.

“It’s like Monty Python’s Flying Circus but with the Ministry of Silly Gases.

“Yet the opportunity, if the Government can move past ideology, is underscored by a spokesperson for the publisher of the American Society for Nutrition. She told Reuters that ‘whole-fat milk and dairy products have gotten [sic] such a bad reputation in recent years due to their saturated fat and cholesterol contents and now we find that CLA may be incredibly health-promoting…whole milk is not the villain!’

"Federated Farmers totally agrees with the American Society for Nutrition that milk is the perfect food and we need to learn everything we can from it. That’s if our Government permits this golden opportunity to be realised, Mr McKenzie concluded.