Milked (2021) Movie Script

We have said
that sustainability
is a key part of our
new strategy, right?
That's the heart of what
we're gonna be doing.
What's the news angle
you're looking at?
Is it
sustainability on farms?
Is it that sustainability
on packaging?
Is it sustainability
in our factories?
- We're talking about climate
change, water quality,
potential longevity
for our farmers.
Are those topics
that you believe
Fonterra would
like to comment on?
We get these
requests all the time, Chris.
We've got people here who've
got a business to run.
What angle are you
taking, how's it gonna work?
- We wanna hear every side
of the story, basically.
There aren't sides
to the story.
There's only one story.
I'm assuming that's the angle
you're taking, 'cause that's
the only angle, that is the
truth of the situation.
- Kia ora. I'm Chris.
This is where I'm from,
the rural north of
Aotearoa, New Zealand.
Surrounded by nature
and fortunate to have
the family home next to
our local river, Mangatawa.
Growing up, we tried our best
to protect and
live with the land.
We grew a lot of our own food
and raised all the animals
you'd expect to see on a farm,
chickens, goats,
pigs, sheep and cows,
Like most Kiwi kids,
I started the day with
milk on my Weet-Bix
and never thought
twice about it.
I was already worried about
the state of our planet
when I came across this film.
"Cowspiracy" showed
how animal agriculture
is the driving force
behind the environmental
breakdown that's happening
and how people were too
afraid to talk about it.
I was shocked, but I thought
that's America, not Aotearoa.
We have grass-fed cows
and look after our land.
And then I saw the
Environment Aotearoa Report
showing the massive impact
dairy is having on our country.
I made a video about
the dairy industry
that got a big response
on social media.
Let's hear what
Fonterra has to say now.
And I was surprised
when Fonterra commented,
inviting me for a
coffee and a chat.
But when I tried taking them up
on the offer....
Welcome to Fonterra.
After the tone, please
record your message.
After the tone, please
record your message.
After the tone, please
record your message.
- Why the change of heart?
What did our country's
biggest company have to hide?
I wanted to meet
with some people
who were speaking out about
the environmental
impacts of the
dairy industry and see
what they could tell me.
- Industrial dairying is this
country's biggest polluter.
It's our biggest
climate emitter,
emitting more greenhouse gases
than our entire
transport sector.
It's our biggest water polluter.
And it's also a major stressor
for biodiversity
and for soil health.
Around the world,
we've seen a massive
increase in a thing called
oceanic dead zones.
They're basically
areas of the ocean
where there's been
so much algal growth,
there's no oxygen, there's
no life in there anymore.
That is what we are risking
on New Zealand's coastlines.
- We are seeing a collapse
of our natural ecosystems.
Most of that collapse
is coming about
because of the pressure that
we are putting on those systems
from commercial activities
like dairy farming.
The consequence for nature
has been devastating.
- New Zealand used to be
a land covered in forest.
We've bowled down the forest,
we've lost the biggest chunk
of wetlands in modern history
in the last 100 years to
put more cows on paddocks.
I discovered
that in Aotearoa
our dairy industry creates
more greenhouse gas emissions
than all cars, trucks, boats,
planes, and trains combined.
And although we
brag about producing
the most sustainable
milk in the world,
the total emissions from
our booming dairy industry
has increased 132%
in the last 30 years.
A hundred and
thirty-two per cent!
It's a global problem too.
The top five meat
and dairy companies,
which includes Fonterra,
produce more emissions than
the whole of the United Kingdom
and its 66 million people.
That's also more than
the oil and gas companies
ExxonMobil, Shell and BP.
One study even showed
that in the next decade,
Fonterra will make
up more than 100%
of New Zealand's
total emissions target.
And yet no one seemed to
be talking about this.
Dr. Jane Goodall is one of
many well-known scientists
who have been warning about
the impacts of climate change
long before it was
all over the media.
- If you consider we're
on this little ball,
this little beautiful
planet of ours,
and we're now surrounding it
with these so-called
greenhouse gases,
which is trapping
the heat of the sun,
which is leading to the
changing weather patterns
that are being so destructive
to the environment,
to people and to
many, many animals...
And while the
worst is yet to come,
the balance of life on the
planet is already way out
with farmed animals
and humans making up
96% of the biomass of mammals
and only 4% is wild mammals.
I also found out Aotearoa
has the highest proportion
of threatened native
species on Earth.
- No wonder we have
a biodiversity crisis.
I'm not angry at the farmers.
I'm not blaming the farmers.
They do what they have to do.
And most of them do really
care about the environment.
But the system that they're
caught up in is totally flawed.
Just sticking to what we
are doing now has no future.
The dairy industry
is having a similar
impact around the world.
And with the global demand
for food doubling by 2050,
how could all this be
produced sustainably?
Scientists warn that we'd need
at least five Earths by then,
if everyone on the planet
eats as much dairy and meat
as countries like
the United States.
- It was Mahatma
Gandhi who said,
"The planet can produce
enough for human need,
but not human greed."
Do we have to keep
doing things the same way?
What if we could
produce that food
without all the
resources and waste?
From what I was discovering,
it looked like there
are other ways,
including something
the dairy industry
doesn't want us to know about
because it threatens
their very existence.
But first I had to understand
how this mess all started
and why we're still in it.
Just over 200 years ago,
British settlers introduced
the first dairy
cows to Aotearoa,
a land mostly covered
in ancient forests
and inhabited by the
indigenous population of Mori.
Most of our native forests
were cut or burnt down
and almost all our
wetlands were destroyed
to make way for farms.
Today, we have over
6 million dairy cows
and we're not doing
this to feed ourselves.
95% of our dairy
products are exported.
Kiwi farmers used to be
known for farming sheep,
but when white gold fever
hit, they switched to cows,
increasing the
average dairy herd size
from 100 to over 400.
- Over the last 30 years,
we didn't increase
the amount of land.
We just got rid of sheep
and replaced them with cows
and they have so
much bigger output.
- The dairy herd of
Aotearoa produces over
150 million liters of
nitrogen rich urine every day.
And each cow has the equivalent
effluent footprint of 14 people.
That means the
cows in this country
create the same amount of waste
as nearly 90 million people.
And with almost no wetlands
left to filter that waste,
it's no surprise that our
waterways are in trouble.
- New Zealand's like
your beautiful friend
that's just gone and got cancer.
And so what's the
source of the cancer?
Well, it's primarily
the dairy industry.
So there's a particular
New Zealand mode
of economic development
where we have these bonanzas,
and the bonanzas are based on
cashing in our
natural resources.
The dairy industry
for the last 20 years
has been a throwback to that
19th-century style
of development
where we cash something in.
And what we've cashed
in is our fresh water.
- It's simply been impossible
for Kiwis to ignore.
You used to be able to swim
in our rivers and
lakes in
New Zealand without
risk of getting sick.
That just isn't possible,
in bulk because of the
impact of industrial dairy.
Every year, we are losing
192 million tonnes of soil.
You know, this is
actually our most precious
resource as a
country, our top soil,
is simply washing out
to sea every single year
because of our
land use practices.
- It's all about destroying
our natural capital,
which is the exact opposite
of what we should be doing.
In Te Ao Mori, the
Mori world, water is sacred.
We pushed for our country
to be the first in the world
to give a river the same
legal status as a person.
It worried me to know
how much of an impact
dairy farming was having
on our fresh water,
by using it
and by polluting it.
Just down the road
from my family home
was an alarming example
of what could go wrong.
I met with some
community leaders
who are trying to
protect their lake.
What did it used to be
like back in the day
when the lake was healthy?
- Being by the lake, we
were able to catch fish.
We just did everything in there.
And now you
can't do any of them?
We can't do any of
that. Not even our children.
The kids used to come down here
and they just lived down
here, swimming in the water,
but the children
had this sickness.
It wasn't until all that
algae started over here
that we realized that there
was more to it than that.
- I've seen farmers spreading
their manure and it's all
blowing into the lake.
- Further up the catchment
we found there was a dairy farm
and they had a
consent to dump effluent.
And if any nutrients
get into the water,
and especially around January,
it's perfect for an incubator
to actually just
create an algae bloom.
- You can't have the water
for the children to play in.
There's no one
coming to the lake.
- We're talking about other
things like water storage
for when there's a drought,
and the drought is heading
our way right now, as I speak.
And people are gonna want water,
but what they want is
better water than this.
- Water is gonna
be the next gold.
The water is the life force.
And if we don't
look after the water,
then all of us will perish.
- How could Fonterra be claiming
to care about communities
and environmental
sustainability?
I had to go call them again
to see if they'd meet with me.
We got your email
about you guys declining
to be part of the documentary.
I just thought if
environmental sustainability
is at the heart of
what you're doing,
I just think this is a
massively missed opportunity
for you guys to
share your initiatives
with the New Zealand public.
- Yeah.
- Are those topics
that you believe
Fonterra would
like to comment on?
We can comment
on any of them, but I mean,
then you'd end up with a
three hour video just on us.
There's already a lot out there.
- Yeah, but you'd probably admit
that it is a bit confusing
for consumers,
kind of, the messages that
they're getting these days?
Mm-hmm.
Well, we're a big player.
It's a dairy industry thing, if
that's what you're looking at?
Then you're better off
dealing with DairyNZ.
- Yeah, I mean, Fonterra,
Fonterra is New
Zealand's largest company.
Yes.
- So, you know, we thought
it'd be
best if the story's
coming directly from you
guys rather than anyone else.
Yeah, but I
mean, while we're big
we're also part
of a big industry.
What angle are you
taking? How's it gonna work?
Because New
Zealand is pretty simple
in terms of farming practices,
which makes us
more carbon efficient,
the most nutritious
milk in the world.
So is that the
angle you're taking?
- We definitely want
to get you on camera
talking about that,
talking about your side
of the story in terms of
what milk means to New Zealand.
Well, we don't even
need to say it on camera
it's so well documented.
What was going on?
Why were they
avoiding an interview?
I was told to go on the DairyNZ
website to see their facts.
NZ dairy is 64% more
emissions efficient
than the global average.
But I had to wonder where
this information came from,
and wasn't reassured
when I saw it was from
industry-funded research.
It also doesn't include
the huge amount of coal
used to make milk powder,
Fonterra's main export product.
I did find someone
from the industry
who was willing to
talk with me, though,
a rep for the South Island
Dairying Development Center.
- So our vision is to be a
great place for animals to live,
producing high quality
food to feed the world
and having, you know,
a sus- not an impact,
a negative impact on the
environment around us.
So we're all about
transparency at SIDDC.
We try to share all
of our data publicly
and that's why I'm here
speaking to you today.
Canterbury seems to
be quite a very dry region.
Why have we seen
such an increase
in dairy farming in Canterbury,
and do you think it's a suitable
place for dairy farming?
- Can I pass on that question?
- How is synthetic
fertilizer made
and what is it made out of?
- Yeah, I'll pass on
that one.
- Do you think we are putting
our future food
security at risk?
- I don't wanna
answer that. I dunno.
Yeah.
Well, that
was confusing.
And what was even more
confusing was all the media
about the good things
the industry was doing.
Maybe they actually were
heading in the right direction
and things were improving?
- You see, our waterways
are a huge part of who we are.
That's why thousands of Kiwis,
including dairy farmers,
have been working hard
to make a difference.
- The Environment
Aotearoa Report in 2019
said that 82% of waterways
are unswimmable in
farming catchments.
- I think if we look at water,
and we're doing a lot of
investigation at the moment,
the water is not as bad
as perhaps those
stats might indicate.
But why was
government and industry
saying one thing and the
science saying something else?
- What I get really annoyed with
is what I just call the bull
that the dairy industry
seems to enjoy.
It's dishonest.
It's greenwashing.
The issue I've got
is not with farmers.
The issue I've long had,
has been with farming
leadership and the lack thereof.
There's a complete level
of just non-reality
that pervades
the dairy industry.
We have environmental awards
that are sponsored
by fertilizer companies.
- The reality is
that we're not clean.
We might be green,
but it's just because
there's lots of fertilizer
going on the grass,
making it look green.
New
Zealanders really care
about the environment.
Even as one of
the lowest emission
dairy producers in the world,
we continuing to
work on new ways
to reduce our carbon footprint.
Industry greenwashing
was everywhere I looked.
This carbon zero milk
is less than 1% of their
total milk production,
and it's achieved by
buying carbon offsets
instead of actual
emission reduction.
Likewise, with their
plant-based milk bottles,
a container made
from plants, not plastic.
But otherwise,
the same old milk.
- What the farming
groups tend to hear
is so much propaganda
from their own industry
and so little honest reality
that they tend to be shocked
when they first hear it,
and they run back
to the industry
to get the story that suits.
- So it doesn't create the
burning platform for change
that actually the real
facts would demand.
- I searched online
and saw that New Zealand's
biggest greenhouse gas emitter
is Fonterra, with a huge 22
million tons every year.
But if that seems
bad, it gets worse.
I found a report
that shows Fonterra
are massively under-reporting
their emissions.
Instead of the 22 million
tonnes that Fonterra claims
the researchers discovered it
was over 44 million tonnes.
That would mean Fonterra alone
produces more than
the whole of Sweden,
a country with twice the
population of Aotearoa.
I was surprised to find out
that almost all dairy emissions
are from the cows themselves.
Methane comes from
their digestive system
and nitrous oxide
comes from the soil
when effluent and
fertilizers are broken down.
- These animals produce
gas, that's methane,
and that's a very
virulent greenhouse gas.
So CO2, everybody knows about,
everybody knows about the
burning of fossil fuel,
but people are not
talking about the methane.
- Other countries,
you can see the smokestacks
and the pollution pouring out.
We've gotta remember,
in New Zealand,
our farms are our factories.
It turns out
that grass-fed cows
produce more methane
than grain-fed cows.
Methane has a global
warming potential
that's 84 times
stronger than CO2.
And one dairy cow
produces about 500
kilograms of methane.
I wanted to know what
Fonterra's plan was
to reduce these
emissions on farms.
I was astounded to find out
that the Zero Carbon Bill
created an exemption for
methane from farm animals,
with only a 10% reduction
required by 2030.
Despite this super
low threshold,
Fonterra were forecasting
no reduction at all
in emissions from cows.
So much for a climate emergency.
- What do we want?
- Climate justice!
- When do we want it?
- Now!
Along with the
methane produced on farms,
the dairy industry also creates
emissions in other ways,
like using fertilizer
made with fossil fuels
and coal to dehydrate milk.
There's just so
little understanding
of just how much we are
dependent on fossil fuels,
not just for everything we do
and how we transport ourselves,
but in our food as well.
- And the fact that
Fonterra alone is burning
410,000 tonnes of coal
every year to dehydrate milk
gives you a sense
of the industrial scale
we've gone down industrial
agriculture, big time,
and we've got
industrial-sized emissions.
- Climate change is affecting
the world everywhere,
it's happening now.
The ice is melting,
sea levels are rising,
floods and droughts
and hurricanes
are getting worse
and more frequent.
What are the measures
that will be taken
to address that emergency?
Practical measures, things
that will actually happen?
Not things that
we just talk about?
We know we have
to control emissions.
We know we shouldn't
have billions of animals.
Emissions aren't
the only major concern.
If water is the new gold,
we're not investing
it very wisely.
Every year in Aotearoa,
we're using 4.8 billion
cubic meters of water
for the dairy industry.
That's 11 times the water use
of the country's
human population.
- Lots of water is used
to change vegetable
to animal protein.
Dwindling supplies
of fresh water
are important in New Zealand.
- Entire rivers are
drying up in summer now
because big,
irrigating dairy farms,
are taking too much
water from them.
An example
of this crazy high use
is one dairy company
taking more water
from the Waikato River
than the whole
city of all Auckland
with over 1.6 million people.
Regional councils
around Aotearoa
are responsible for
enforcing regulations,
but it seems they aren't quite
doing their job properly.
I heard about someone who
was taking on the fight
for better water monitoring,
a former boxer who gave up his
job to become a river ranger
after discovering the
river he'd swum in as a boy
had been ruined
by dairy effluent.
- My uncle and I, we went
out to our homestead,
we just couldn't believe
how bad the river was.
Full of urine,
excrement from cattle,
and the stench, the
cattle everywhere.
Yeah, and I started to cry, you
know, at the enormity of it.
I understood that day,
it's totally unmonitored.
So at that point
in time in my life,
I just decided to get
myself a boat suitable,
just for rivers, just try
and do some reporting.
DairyNZ and Fonterra say, "Oh,
we're 97.5% fenced off now."
Ah, but is your
fence fit for purpose?
Many farmers raising both
sides of their fence,
so they open their gate and put
the cattle on the riverbank.
One of the river water
quality tests I done
up at the Whangrei
Falls up here,
it was 10 times over the
safe limit for swimming.
- So this water looks nice,
but is that not the case?
- You can't drink it.
You'd have to think twice
about letting your
kids swim in it.
Nitrate is huge. You
know, huge problem.
We can't see it.
It's penetrating through
the ground to the rivers.
Aotearoa has got a problem
with water quality. For sure.
After
talking with Millan,
I wanted to find out why
nitrates seemed to be
one of the biggest
issues for water quality.
- In nature, all plants
need nitrogen to grow,
but nature will provide
it for us if we let it.
Instead, big agribusinesses
like Ravensdown and Agri
Balance here in New Zealand,
sell synthetic
nitrogen fertilizer.
New Zealand holds
the dishonorable title
of having increased
synthetic fertilizer use
more than any other
OECD nation since 1990.
- All through nature
for the 10,000 years
that humans have
been doing agriculture,
it's about natural balances.
What we've done now
is a one way system
where the way we
have so many cows
is we put heaps of synthetic
nitrogen fertilizer on
made from fossil fuels.
We're the biggest importer
of palm kernel in the world.
So we put all of
this stuff on the farm
to have this really
high stocking rate.
We could never
have that stocking rate
without all these inputs.
And so, the more you pour
into a farming system
from the outside, the
more leaks out bottom,
and the leaking out the bottom
we're seeing is the
impacts on our waterways.
If nitrate turned
our rivers red,
you know, we wouldn't
have the problem.
It's only 'cause
people can't see it,
they don't know it's there.
As you get more
nitrate in drinking water,
the chances of getting
colorectal cancer,
and a bunch of other things,
but we'll just talk about the
colorectal cancer for a start,
really increase.
We've got nitrate levels
just ramping up in drinking
water in Canterbury.
- So in Canterbury,
where I'm from,
we have the highest stocking
rates in the country
and the highest rates of the
use of synthetic fertilizer.
We are already
seeing drinking wells
showing up levels
that are associated
with an increased risk
of colorectal cancer.
In rural Canterbury,
pregnant mothers are being
advised by health officials
that they need to get their
private drinking water tested
for fear that it will cause
fatal blue baby syndrome
from increased
nitrate contamination.
It's not just dirty rivers
that we are talking about here.
We're talking about people's
health and well-being.
- I needed to talk with
someone at Fonterra
about everything
I'd learned so far.
I decided the only option
was to just turn up
and see who I could find.
We're working on a documentary.
We're wondering if we could
speak to someone from Fonterra
who can represent the New
Zealand dairy industry
to have a chat with us?
- OK, yeah.
- I'll probably ask
Kayley about that.
- OK.
I wanted someone to front up
and answer the
questions I had for them
that no one else could answer.
- If you can just pop onto our,
- But instead I was asked
to leave another message.
Website or Facebook?
Can't say, I didn't
see that coming.
I'd already called the number
they gave me a few times
and hadn't heard
back from anyone,
but I left one last
message anyway.
"Sustainability and
social responsibility
are a fundamental part of
the way Fonterra operates."
- Dairy's important
for good nutrition, especially
in young growing bodies.
Fonterra milk for
schools helps make sure
primary school
kids in New Zealand
not only get to enjoy our milk,
but also learn about the
nutritional power it has.
With all the claims
to be producing healthy food
I wanted to know if
this was the reality
or just another illusion.
So I contacted some health
professionals to find out.
- It's not beneficial,
not required,
associated with
lots of diseases.
The science is there, it's just,
we need people to catch
up with the science.
So industry often talk
a lot about calcium.
"You gotta drink milk because
it's a good source of calcium,"
but I think they are kind
of moving away from that.
- A lot of those old ideas
they've cunningly backed off.
Unfortunately, of course,
the damage has been done
because that's what a
lot of people, I guess,
even my age learned
when we were kids.
In fact, what we see is
that the countries that eat
the highest amounts of calcium
have the highest rates of hip
fractures and osteoporosis.
A New Zealand
based study clearly shows
there's no evidence that
increasing calcium from dietary
sources prevents fractures.
Yet, that's what most
health professionals
are still telling us.
- I think it would be
very, very beneficial
for society as a whole
if doctors were trained in
nutrition, but they're not.
They get very limited amounts
of nutrition training.
So basically what they teach
is what's popular opinion.
- The main issue is that
the majority of the
world's population
cannot digest
the lactose in milk.
Particularly in Southeast Asia.
And there's good evidence
that in the Pacific and Mori,
there's higher rates
of lactose intolerance,
but also it increases
the amount of mucus
and sinus inflammation
that people get.
Kids are very vulnerable to it.
If they can cut out the dairy,
they can really
respond very quickly.
- We know that there's
numerous issues with dairy.
That is one of the things
that really
annoys me about
the milk in schools.
The implication by
having the milk in there
is that this is
something that's healthy,
that they should be eating.
There's a very good chance that
it's actually hurting them.
- Fonterra milk for schools
is one of the best ways we can
look out for our communities,
nurturing the next generation
by sharing the natural
goodness of dairy.
We are Fonterra and
this is Dairy for life.
- They want you
to start off young
and they want to get into the
minds of our youth population
so that once you've got that
person hooked on your product,
they're gonna be
a customer for life.
In the 300,000 year
history of modern humans,
the earliest people drank
milk from other animals
was only 10,000 years ago.
Humans are the only species
that drinks milk after infancy
and the only ones that take
milk from other animals.
Cows were the obvious
choice in most places.
But if our aim was
to get a milk supply
with similar
nutrition to our own,
we could have
gone with zebra milk,
or maybe even chimpanzee milk.
But I guess that's not so easy.
What about dog
milk for convenience
and an extra boost of protein?
Not sure if Fonterra could
sell that idea, though.
And we aren't even meant to
consume high amounts of protein.
Human milk is
perfectly designed for us
and has the lowest protein
amount of any mammal's milk.
Everything
that's contained
in any of these dairy products
or in any animal product,
with the exception of
vitamin B12 of course,
comes from the
plants essentially.
And so by having the
animals eat them first
and then us eating the animals,
it's a very inefficient way of
us getting to that nutrition,
which we could have just got
from the plants
in the first place.
We don't need to filter our
nutrition through animals.
We'd do a lot better going
straight to the source of
nutrition in the first instance.
It makes sense that
we can skip the middle cow
like our early ancestors did.
And it turns out we also filter
other things through cows
like antibiotics and hormones.
- They're routinely
fed antibiotics.
The bacteria build up resistance
and people have already
died from a small cut,
which becomes infected,
and there just
isn't an antibiotic
strong enough to cure it.
It's one of the big
fears in medicine
that we're gradually reducing
the number of antibiotics
that can be effective.
Antibiotics are
often used for mastitis,
a common and painful
inflammation of the udder
that causes white blood
cells to leach into milk.
A liter of milk can have up
to 400 million of these cells
before it's considered
unfit for people to drink.
- Given that it's got these
kinds of things in there,
is that really something
you wanna be consuming
from another animal?
The processing that they have
is because it's a dirty
product, you know?
It's got a lot of stuff in
there that can make you sick.
Everyone knows what it
smells like after it's been,
you know, left out
for a day or two.
It's nasty.
- This is not a food
that was ever designed
to be inside a human being.
'Cause you've got these
cows, they're pregnant,
they're lactating
at the same time
so the female
hormones in a dairy cow
are really, really high.
And so you've got
things like estrogen,
which is in the milk.
What this also does is it will
grow cells that are
abnormal really quickly.
- That's probably one
of the reasons why
it is associated with
hormone sensitive cancers.
So that's your prostate
cancer, breast cancer.
- Definitely a very strong
link with prostate cancer,
possibly even
stronger than there is
with smoking and lung cancer.
It's full of stuff that
blows up a small calf
into a huge cow within,
you know, a year or so.
One study
found that even
moderate of dairy
milk consumption
can increase women's risk
of breast cancer up to 80%.
And yet this isn't
even mentioned
on our national Breast
Cancer Foundation website
who are still promoting
dairy products,
saying they're
important for bone health,
that same old idea.
- People need to be informed
of what they're buying
and the risks of it.
- Why would you promote
anything that's been associated
with any kind of cancer?
- These conversations made
me think of my own family
and the loved ones I've lost.
Mori men are 70% more likely
to die from prostate cancer
than non-Mori.
And if the link between
dairy consumption and prostate
cancer was common knowledge,
maybe I could have
met my grandfather.
The more I thought about it,
the stranger it seemed that
we even consume dairy at all.
Mori have historically
been some of the tallest,
strongest, fittest
people on the planet
and we didn't have dairy
until Europeans showed up.
So we obviously don't
need it to be healthy.
Dairy being marketed
to us as a health food
ignores our history.
Chronic disease was almost
unheard of before colonization,
but now, with one of the highest
dairy consumption
rates in the world,
Mori suffer from higher
rates of diabetes,
heart disease and cancers.
Hello, Chris speaking.
Chris. Hi.
This is Philippa from
Fonterra. How are you?
- Philippa? Hi, yeah,
I'm good, thanks.
We are really hoping
to get someone
from Fonterra to talk to us.
Does that sound like --
- Mm-hmm.
- something you'd be
able to help us with?
New
Zealand's dairy industry
is the most
sustainable in the world.
And actually the
farming practices here
are the least
emissions efficient,
sorry, the most
emissions efficient
out of
any in the world.
- But what we are
noticing as well
is what's happening
to our waterways.
What's happening
to that footprint
of greenhouse gas emissions
coming out of the sector.
I was asked to email them
again with the same information
and realized that
to get some honesty,
I had to find farmers
to talk with instead.
I was surprised
with what I found out
about life on the farm.
- The family's been farming
here for 95-odd years,
and we've always
dairy farmed here.
I was born here and yeah,
I'll probably die here.
Hopefully. But not too soon!
We work seven days a week.
We're up at 3:30,
4:00 in the morning,
home by six o'clock,
maybe at night,
worse in the spring.
Lucky if you get
a bit of breakfast
in the morning, some days,
you know, it's full on.
And with all the
other, you know,
everything coming at
you from all sides, nah,
the motivation to be continuing
to dairy farm is gone.
If people aren't appreciative
of what you're doing,
then that motivation
disappears pretty quick.
And then, you don't see a vat
full of milk to feed people.
You see a vat full of money.
Now talk about sustainability.
No one considers the
sustainability to the farmers,
the sustainability of human,
um, life, because a farmer,
it's not sustainable if farmers
are all hanging themselves
left, right and center, or,
or sort of letting your farm
go to wrack and ruin because
they just have lost the
plot and don't care anymore.
And that's happening.
It's a reality I
know is happening
and that's gotta be a crucial
part of sustainability.
And that's why I feel
if dairying's getting
too much for people,
then perhaps dairying's not
the game you should be in.
- Another farmer was willing
to talk about his experience
with the bacterial
disease, mycoplasma bovis.
The Ministry for
Primary Industries
is attempting to
eradicate it, at any cost.
- If MPI finds one
of your animals
with the disease of
mycoplasma bovis,
they kill everything,
everything.
I've had 34 years
in this industry
and I go during middle of
the night to check on my cows
to make sure that the birth
process is going all right,
and if there's a
calf that's not well
you get it inside
and nurture it.
And then all of a sudden
you're being told you
have to kill these calves.
And, oh that, I think that
particularly afterwards
it was very traumatizing.
And I'm still not
over it, actually.
So how many
days did this take?
You killing the calves?
Probably 80, 90 days.
How many calves do you
think you were killing per day?
- Some days might be one and
some days might be six, seven.
We had another farm as well
affected with mycoplasma bovis
and the farm manager there,
he had to kill the
calves on the farm there
and he was calving
more cows than I was.
Couldn't hack it
anymore in the end
and he tried to commit suicide.
And, my son...
My son found him and got him out
and now he's left New Zealand.
He's gone.
Twenty-three-year-old.
Fucked his life. For this.
- Email from Fonterra.
"Morning, Chris,
thanks for the opportunity,
again, to be part of your video.
We currently have
other opportunities
for our sustainability program
and have decided that we
won't be participating
in your documentary."
Surely if sustainability
is important for Fonterra,
then they can make time
for a short interview with
us about sustainability?
I decided to give up trying
to get answers from them.
Since they'd refused to talk,
I'd have to keep finding
people who would.
There seemed to be
a lot in the media about
regenerative agriculture
being the climate change
solution everyone's hoping for,
and how healthy soil can
actually store carbon.
- Carbon
sequestration in the soil
is a really valuable,
easy, cheap, you know,
immediate tool that
we can start employing
in greenhouse gas emissions.
Farmers are not only on
the front lines of change,
but they also represent
our best opportunity
to combat things
like climate change.
They're the heroes of the story.
- That sounded impressive.
But then I found a major
international report
that disagrees.
It shows that any carbon
sequestration from grazing cows
is substantially outweighed
by the greenhouse gas
emissions they generate.
It turns out that
selling that idea
as a climate change solution
is just serving up false hope.
- There are too many
cows on this planet
and we can't keep farming them,
even if every single one of
them is farmed regeneratively.
We cannot be having
these land uses
which are all about
producing milk,
or all about producing meat.
We have to diversify into
plant-based production.
That's what the
science is telling us.
- Even plant-based
foods transported
from the other side of the world
are more carbon efficient
than animal products.
And I was surprised to see
that one kilogram of cheese
creates a staggering
21 kilos of emissions,
compared with about
one kilo of emissions
from most vegetables
and other plant foods.
I also discovered there's
a secret ingredient
the industry uses that
boosts milk production,
causing even more devastation.
- Fonterra is selling New
Zealand's milk as grass fed,
seeming to forget that
we're actually importing
two and a half million
tonnes of palm kernel
to feed those cows.
Fonterra's key supplier of PKE
is linked to ongoing
deforestation
of tropical rainforest
and human rights abuses.
It's massively
destroying habitat
for endangered species
like the orangutan
We are farming so many
cows in New Zealand
that we completely surpassed
any kind of
environmental limits here.
We're actually cutting
down forest in Indonesia
to feed a bloated dairy herd
that is trashing our
environment here,
but also indebting dairy
farmers who are holding around,
collectively, $38
billion worth of debt.
This industry is not
working for anyone.
It didn't make sense
how farmers could
be in so much debt.
Why had this happened?
And was Fonterra also
in financial trouble?
- In the last 20 years,
farmers have borrowed
over 30 billion extra.
Dairy debt has gone up from,
in 2000 it was about 10 billion.
It's now 40 billion.
That's a 400% increase in debt.
- We now have so many
people in New Zealand
struggling under so much
debt, irresponsible debt,
that was given out just because
the dairy industry
has so much clout,
and they're now in
a financial position
that they don't
know where to go,
because how do you get out from
millions of dollars of debt?
- Definitely, that
was a direction
Fonterra went in a few years ago
when they were
pushing for volume
that wasn't to everyone's
agreement, definitely.
And looking back it's
like, "Wow, we were duped."
"How did they pull that one over
our bloody eyes," you know?
- We know that it's not
economically problematic
for dairy farmers to
reduce stocking rates,
but for Fonterra
the opposite is true.
They have built a lot of milk
dehydrators around the country
that require a large
volume of milk.
So what works financially
for the fancy Fonterra HQ
in Fanshawe Street, Auckland,
does not necessarily work for
New Zealand's dairy farmers.
- When I was working
for government,
I got an incredibly detailed
insight into Fonterra,
deep down into the
bowels of the company.
The Fonterra dream is
over. It's long since gone.
The conversation for today is,
will Fonterra even survive?
'Cause its numbers are that bad.
If some really smart
person in a white coat
comes up with a
dairy alternative,
but is a quarter of the cost
and doesn't have the
environmental impact,
then I'm sorry
dairy, you're toast.
I couldn't believe
that our dairy industry
could be that fragile.
Isn't it meant to be
the backbone of our economy?
Could a cheaper and more
sustainable dairy alternative
really wipe it out completely?
And I had to wonder
why we're still using
so much land for dairy
when we could get more profit
from growing plants instead?
A government funded
report shows that Aotearoa
has a huge amount of land
suitable for growing crops
and potential for $80 billion
from plant-based crops
compared with only $28 billion
from animal agriculture.
I met with the dairy spokesman
for Federated Farmers
to find out what he thought
about transitioning.
Do you think there
are some dairy farmers
that will stick with
dairy no matter what?
- We all just wanna
make a dollar.
And if it's a better returns
growing some alternative foods,
show us some money.
I think some farmers
would be quite happy
to hang up the
apron and grow crops
if that was a better
return on investment.
I don't mind changing.
If I can provide a better future
for my family, I'll change.
I'll stop milking those
cows and I'll jump ship.
It's that simple really, innit?
But it might
already be too late
for some farmers to take
up new opportunities.
One research project looked
into using dairy land
to make oat milk, which
uses 13 times less water,
11 times less land,
and creates 3.5 times less
carbon emissions
than cow's milk.
- It was way more
protein per hectare,
way more energy efficient.
Everything that
you could measure
was so much more efficient
without the cows.
It was a fantastic
example of where
you would be much better off
not having the animals there
and you could make this
really good product.
The thing that you need to make
plant-based milk of course,
is nice clean water.
And when they started looking
at the groundwater
in the vicinity,
in some of those bores,
there was five or six times
the World Health Organization
limit for nitrate in that water.
So you just wouldn't
be able to make
the milk out of it. It's
just a classic example of
here's a good option of
how we could do it better,
but we've already shut
the gate on that option
because we've already
polluted the water
past limits where
you could use it.
- So we have current
farming models that are
potentially harming our future?
Yep.
When you pollute the water
and you pollute the soil,
it really limits your
options for the future.
So if the true costs
were being paid,
then we wouldn't be doing
dairy in this country.
An
example of this cost
is Aotearoa taxpayers giving
dairy farmers $130 million
not to farm in the Taup
and Rotorua Lake areas
to reduce the water
contamination from nitrates.
If we paid all our dairy
farmers to stop polluting water,
that would cost
over $20 billion.
- As a businessperson,
and you had to pay that,
you would go, "Right, we
stop doing it, you know,
because there's
no money in this,
it's gonna cost us to do it."
It's only because the cost
is being passed
on to the rest of us.
- This is an industry
making profits
off of the destruction
of our environment,
and it is us, everyday
New Zealanders,
who are going to,
and are already,
paying the price for that.
And there are very
powerful companies
that want to keep it that way,
despite the costs
to New Zealand.
I did some more
investigating and found out
even the country's
nutrition guidelines
are influenced by
the dairy industry.
Consultation with
key stakeholders
meant that Fonterra had a say,
and three out of the four
issues they raised were changed,
including the removal
of milk alternatives.
I'd heard some strong
reactions to dairy alternatives
from industry representatives
and politicians also,
trying to stop any
possible threat.
This notion that
veganism and almond powder
or something akin to
that is gonna replace
genuine red meat,
genuine dairy milk,
it needs to be
stopped in its tracks.
We should not tolerate.
We should not
acquiesce for one inch
of the political journey
with these people
who are continuing to
stigmatize and demonize
our legacy industry.
- If it's not a milk, if it's
a nut juice or something else,
just call it for what it is
and create your own brand
and create your own
marketing strategy
and leverage off that.
Don't leverage off
the dairy industry.
Then, a
well-respected magazine
came out with this on the cover.
After reading about
all the so-called
benefits of meat and dairy,
I looked online and found
that the featured scientists
were from the Riddet Institute,
which has close ties with
meat and dairy companies,
including Fonterra.
What's it gonna take to
change these organizations?
- Probably one thing is
not to be funded by dairy.
A lot of people
who put out studies,
and it's been shown very well,
get funded by dairy sources,
whether it's overtly or
whether you have to dig around.
- So a huge amount of money
that comes into universities
is from the industry.
And so you start speaking
out against that industry
and your options start to close
down really, really quickly.
Who do you believe
in an argument,
is you
follow the money.
- Especially in New Zealand,
the farming industry, you know,
you're seen to be
almost unpatriotic
if you're not supporting it by
having lots of dairy,
having lots of meat.
- You've got an industry that
has been incredibly powerful
for an incredibly long time.
And it's deeply entrenched.
Now, once you
realize in New Zealand,
that five million cows
are a lot more important
than five million people,
then everything else
in New Zealand politics
suddenly makes a lot of sense,
because the cows are more
important than we are.
- Some people who are really
heavily invested in status quo
and you are
threatening their income,
and so they will be very angry
if somebody's speaking up
and pointing out
harm that you're doing,
you try to shoot them down.
An animal rights
group found this out first hand
when they took out an ad in
an international newspaper,
highlighting cruelty on
New Zealand dairy farms.
- When we placed an
ad in "The Guardian,"
we got a lot of abuse.
We got a lot of threats,
a lot of death threats.
I've had death threats
right throughout my
30 years working for
animals, but this was bad.
This was seriously bad.
This industry's
power scared me.
And I wasn't alone.
Many people I talked with
had been too frightened
to even speak on camera.
I'd already been warned
about the backlash against me
after making a film that
exposes these issues.
- Death threats happen.
People will make serious threats
and allegations against you
because they're seeing their
livelihood being threatened.
And so, they see
you as a threat.
I want you all to
be aware, like,
this is a reality of this.
Like, you guys are going up
against the biggest company
and then the biggest industry
in the entire country.
That being said, it
absolutely needs to be done.
The fear of reprisal
can't outweigh
the fear of not acting, right?
Like, not speaking up,
not showing this truth,
is the real danger.
They're destroying the planet.
They're killing these
animals and people are dying,
and people are literally
dying because of this,
and it's all for the
sake of making money.
I never
considered that
my life could be threatened
by exposing this industry.
But I realized that
revealing the truth
could also have
a powerful impact
and help create the change
I want so badly to see.
I decided that I had to
continue with the film
no matter what the outcome.
The industry claim that
dairy is essential for us
was starting to sound
a bit desperate to me,
along with their recent strategy
of targeting the Asian market.
With population growth
and rising incomes
in these countries,
it's an obvious business choice.
- People all around the world
are actively seeking products
that they know they can
trust to feed their families.
And today our world-class
dairy products are available
in over 140 countries
around the world.
We're dedicated to sharing
this goodness with the world.
- People are being
told that they need
lots and lots of dairy.
There are a lot of
populations around the world
where dairy wasn't a part
of their cultural diet.
- If you look at Asia,
which is actually where we're
trying to market this stuff,
which is just bizarre because
lactose intolerance
rates of almost 100%
in many parts of Asia.
So we're not doing
them any favors.
- So exporting dairy
to Southeast Asia,
it's a business decision,
but at the same time,
you're exporting your diseases
offshore in return for money.
- You can already
see this happening,
like diabetes rates
in India and China
have just gone through the roof
as they start adopting a
more Western type of diet,
and dairy is a big part of that.
- Everywhere in
the world that this
European diet is
forced on people,
people go from the healthiest
to then the sickest.
It's easy to push
these white lies
and that's all this
industry is doing.
It's like, they're pushing
just outright racist lies.
- We're excited and we're proud
to be able to make
this connection
between the way we at Fonterra
create world-class milk
and the products
our dairy shows up in
to nourish people
around the world.
- It's quite a difficult
situation for New Zealand
to turn that sort of spotlight
on itself or whatever,
and say, "Actually, maybe
what we are producing here
isn't actually very
healthy for people.
And maybe we are not doing the
right thing by producing this
and marketing it to
the rest of the world."
- How far do you go
with justifying what you do
because there's a profit in it?
I hear that classic "we're
feeding the world" story.
I think the reality is much more
that people would be better
off if we didn't provide it.
Just because there's
a market for something
doesn't make it right.
To go
towards meeting this
increased global
demand for dairy,
Fonterra had predicted a 40%
increase in milk production
in the 10 year years
from 2015 to 2025.
With the environment
already struggling,
how could this increase
possibly be sustainable?
And what about the cows?
From what I'd seen
they were already
being pushed to their limits
having been selectively
bred to produce more than
double the amount of milk
they would naturally produce.
Dairy cows are usually worn
out after about five years,
then sent to the slaughter
house to be killed
and turned into hamburger mince.
I was curious to see what
the people who produce
ethical dairy products think
of this not-so-happy ending.
Your brand is kind
of centered around
this compassion
for these animals.
- Yeah.
- Happy cows.
This seems to be a bit
of a obstacle for you
if these cows are gonna be
eventually sent to slaughter.
- Mm.
- How do you deal with that?
How do you communicate
that with the consumer?
- Yeah. Well, I
mean, that's true.
And it's animal agriculture.
We should try and extend
their life as much as possible
without profit always being
the core driver, I suppose.
But then again,
she will, she will die.
Mmm. That's what we say.
Like many
New Zealanders,
I'd watched the undercover
footage of the dairy industry
from Farmwatch, a
volunteer organization
showing what goes on
away from the public eye.
I join them to see for myself
what happens to the
animals in dairy country.
- You never know what
you're gonna see, or when,
so you just gotta do
the time on the road.
Most people drive past
paddocks just like this
and they just see
cows eating grass,
and they think that
that's all there is to it.
But when you
think about the fact
that they're artificially
inseminated,
the fact that they
are then pregnant
and being milked
for nine months,
and then they have a baby
that's taken away
from them every year,
I think a lot of people
don't know that that happens.
Do you get
any negative backlash
from the public or from farmers?
- We're pretty careful.
Like if we get down a
road and we feel unsafe
and we see, kind of, any
movement, we'll just leave.
We've had too many close
calls to take risks like that.
We don't like feeling
trapped down dead-end roads.
Are you able just to
pull over for a minute,
just... thank you.
- Any cows that are
gonna go to slaughter
will be placed in that
crate, picked up by a truck,
and then taken to
the slaughter house.
- Car in front.
Someone
behind us, too.
- Just on the road.
Since
you started in 2014,
have things become
harder to document?
You
drive through today
and you see almost nothing.
It's all hidden, now,
it's all off the road.
So it's definitely harder.
Once you've exposed an industry,
they definitely
will try and hide it.
- Are youse all right?
Yeah. We're all good.
- Can you please leave.
- OK.
- Now.
- Don't come back.
There's a big
cow straight ahead of us
- Big cow?
- Oh, fuck me!
Oh, fuck!
This particular cow has
a calf half out of her,
so she's clearly
died giving birth.
And then just been thrown
on this pile of dead bodies.
So, I'm pretty sure on
the left it's calf skins.
And...
Those are skinned calves.
There's a person there.
OK, we're gonna have to,
he's coming towards us.
When we do
investigations that require
hidden camera placements
and going out at night,
I mean, it's utterly terrifying.
It's work that nobody
should have to do.
And the more you look, the
more awful shit you see,
and you can't really ever
unsee a lot of that stuff.
We've seen just so much
death and suffering
out in dairy country.
It always makes
me laugh when I see,
"Fonterra for life"
or "Dairy for life"
because this industry to me
is just full of death
and suffering.
It's an industry based on death.
I was sickened
by what I had seen.
My experience with
Farmwatch made me realize
how most people have no chance
to see what really happens
behind the industry's
marketing machine.
- Well, initially,
you believe that
you're going to have
all the fields around
you, the animals,
you've got all these sort
of visions in your head
of what you see on the ads.
But the difference between
actually seeing it and doing it
is night and day, night and day.
That's when it really, truly
hits you what's going on.
That it's not just lush
fields and happy cows.
- We just have to make sure
that what we do
is the right thing
and not be trying
to hide anything.
- The industry is there to
make money as much as possible,
and basically hide
truth from people.
They do not want you to
know the full picture.
And their job really,
is to sweep that dark
side under the rug.
- It is very, very secretive.
If the animal experimentation
industry wasn't so well hidden
and people could actually
see the research and tests
that cows are used in, they'd
know that it's not natural.
If people who go and
buy their natural milk
from the supermarkets
saw a fistulated cow
that looks more like
a Frankenstein animal
than a natural cow
running about in a field
like they probably imagine,
it would be pretty clear to them
that there's not a lot natural
about the dairy industry.
- And it's ridiculous really
that we have to
rely on volunteers to
basically show what's
going on on the farms.
And what they show that goes
on the farms is just not like
the Fonterra open days
on the farm, of course,
where you can have a look
and pet a little calf.
No, they actually shows
what's going on on the farm.
- Farmers are just trying
to get through their day
the best way that they
can, and they're exhausted.
And you're also in a place
where no one's watching.
So it's rife for abuse.
- Whenever activists
put cameras out there,
they record
deliberate infliction
of suffering on animals.
- It's much more
convenient for them
if they believe
that the animals,
just because they're bred for
food, they're just things,
and they don't have
these emotions.
And of course, it's
completely untrue.
- My first morning
in the calf pens,
I stood there and there
were all these tiny babies,
lots of them still
with bloody navels,
some of them still
had afterbirth on them
that were calling out
for their Mums, basically.
And it hit me like a force field
that this is what it
took to get that milk.
- They bellow, and they cry.
They cry for their Mums,
Mums cry for their babies.
It became quite clear that
you were listening to pain.
And so you can't really forget
that once you know that.
And, it then forces you as
a farmer, I think to say,
"All right, well, what
is the greater good
that that pain's delivering to?"
I don't really wanna get into
the bobby calf thing
if that's all right.
- Back in the day they used
to pay one bob for them
because they were
considered so worthless.
Now we have around
two million a year
that are considered bobbies.
We're slaughtering two million
newborns over eight weeks.
- If you talk to
many dairy farmers,
they will say they will struggle
with this whole bobby calf issue
and taking these calves
away from the mothers,
they struggle with
that themselves.
- "So, we're really kind
to our bobby calves."
Bullshit!
You know, where
those calves are going?
- There were a lot of
things that I questioned
when I was farming,
and I was just sort of told
that's way it has to be.
It has to be this way
because of production,
because you know,
the industry needs milk,
the people need
this, this is our job.
What we are doing is necessary.
It's just generations,
and generations and
generations of conditioning.
- You have to
desensitize yourself to it.
If you don't, yeah,
you may end up a shivering wreck
and unable to continue.
- Just because there's
pain and suffering
built into a system doesn't mean
that the system's
bad or wrong or evil.
So, I am not afraid as a
agricultural storyteller
of talking about things like
institutionalized animal cruelty
because it makes it real.
And you know...
... think about where
I'm going with this...
No, I think I will
leave it there.
I just
couldn't understand
how all this could be happening
for a product that
we don't even need.
And why are we're
still putting so much
into propping up the industry
instead of
transitioning out of it.
Could the power of the dairy
industry be the only thing
that's stopping any
positive change?
- We know what the problems are
and we're just dancing
around the solution.
So rather than cutting
it off at the source
and moving away
from animal agriculture,
what we are doing is
we are trying to reduce
the negative impact
on the environment.
It's just a desperate attempt
at trying to keep
that industry alive.
- If you are doing
something that's stupid
and you then actually apply
a silver bullet, you know,
you are trying to
continue the stupid.
- All we are gonna do by
these techno fixes to dairy,
so, "oh, put them in a barn,"
or "give them methane vaccine,"
or "change their feed,"
That's just shifting
environmental problems around.
- The best way to reduce
the number of animals
is for more people to go
to a plant-based diet.
What New Zealand and
other countries can do
is to reduce our demand on
milk and dairy products.
And the farmers of course,
will rise up in arms because
it's their livelihood.
And so if you're going to say,
"OK, no more, you
can't keep cows anymore,"
there must be an alternative
for those farmers
because you've taken
away their livelihood.
One of
those alternatives
could be growing hemp.
Larrys Gold hemp products
are made by a family
who are trying to find their
way out of the dairy industry.
So you're a
fourth-generation dairy farmer
and you're considering
getting out of the business.
Why is that?
- It just seems a bit crazy
growing plant protein to feed
animals to produce protein.
So much less protein is produced
per hectare of animal
protein so, you know,
we've got a world to feed, and
there's so many starving people.
It's just a step in
the right direction.
We have to farm at the moment,
you know, just for income.
And it's hard
just to switch over
with a lot of debt and stuff.
We need some change.
It has to be done the right
way and phase it out, I guess?
Potential to grow really
good hemp around this area,
I think most of New
Zealand, to be honest.
Pretty hardy plant.
And how likely
is it for you guys
that that's gonna become
something financially viable?
- I think we can do it.
We need to have a better
industry set up in New Zealand.
It's pretty hard
for guys like us,
'cause there's nothing
around here either.
You know, pretty much
everything's dairy farming,
so that's all people
know, you know?
- The governing body
that is responsible
for enabling the hemp industry
is somewhat disabling it.
I guess the plant
needs to be unlocked.
There seemed to be
other options out
there for farmers.
So why wasn't that
change happening more?
And why doesn't
the hemp industry
have more government support?
- We're really just
scratching the surface
of what hemp can do.
Future food uses, future
plastic uses, construction uses,
and hemp itself sucks up a
hell of a lot of nitrogen.
It grows extremely
fast and consumes
four times more
CO2 than pine does.
If the government
enabled us to use
the carbon credits from hemp
on the emissions trading scheme,
the economics of hemp
would be unbelievably good.
But central government
haven't been supportive
enough, I don't feel,
for an industry that can solve
so many of the systemic problems
that they're trying
to undertake.
I think hemp
provides a wonderful
solution to many of those.
Farmers want to make a change.
And that's what we are
trying to do hugely is
enable this industry and
get it moving off the ground
and make it economically viable.
Once that happens,
then farmers will have a
very easy decision to make.
But the global demand
for dairy is still rising.
Even with all the plant-based
alternatives available
it's clear that most
people around the world
are still buying into
dairy industry marketing.
Then I discovered that
change might happen
in a totally unexpected way.
A major international
report from RethinkX
predicts that making
real dairy without cows
will wipe out the global
dairy industry by 2030.
Once it's cheaper
than dairy from cows,
big companies like
Nestle could switch
their milk powder supply
to the animal-free version.
And our milk powder
exports could be doomed.
- RethinkX are saying
in the US dairy industry,
something like a 90% reduction
in their cow numbers
within a decade.
- How realistic do you think
that report is and how worried
should New Zealand farmers be
in terms of them having
a sustainable career?
- I think they should
be really worried.
I think the last thing
the dairy industry
should be worried about
is a 10% greenhouse
gas emissions by 2030.
I think they've
gotta worry about
will they even be
around in 2030?
- We're going to see
the most consequential shift
in food production systems
that we've ever seen in
the past 10,000 years.
Cow as a technology
will become redundant.
This new technology is
exponentially more efficient
and that means that we are
seeing a huge, incredible shift,
the biggest one in humankind
in the way food
will be produced.
I went on
the RethinkX website
and saw that this
animal free dairy
is made by microbes
instead of mammary glands.
These microbes are instructed
to produce dairy proteins.
They go into a fermentation
tank along with feed stock,
and when it's
finished fermenting,
the microbes are filtered out,
leaving real dairy
protein that's identical
to what's found in cow's milk.
It's also made with
5% of the resources,
1% of the waste,
and 0% of the cows.
And because it's real dairy,
it tastes exactly like
what we're used to,
but it does come with
some of the health risks
that animal proteins
are linked with.
As I was looking into this
coming agricultural disruption,
COVID took over the world.
In lockdown, I read about the
spread of zoonotic diseases.
Those that jump from animals
to humans, like COVID-19.
It turns out that many
devastating diseases
have come from
animals, including Ebola,
SARS, HIV, and measles,
which originally spread
from cattle to humans.
I was alarmed to see
that the increased
demand for animal protein
is the number one risk factor
for the emergence
of zoonotic diseases.
Now seemed like a good
time to talk with people
who could tell me
more about dairy 2.0.
Milk made without cows.
- As soon as you remove
cows from the equation,
the business of dairy
becomes much, much easier
and much, much more profitable.
The milk created without
cows would completely blow
the traditional industry
out of the water.
- Fermentation, the way
that you produce beer,
is going to be the way
that you produce proteins.
Essentially it's gonna
be 10 times cheaper
than animal protein.
Cows cannot possibly
compete with this.
And the same fate is going
to happen with all livestock.
Pigs, chicken,
sheep, first cows,
because they are
the most inefficient
food production
system on the planet.
The cow produces 96% waste.
Of everything that it
consumes, 96% is waste.
So essentially you're
building up this cow
for two or three years
and you need all this land
and all this energy
and all this water,
and 88% of that milk is
water with no economic value.
There are companies already
making casein and whey
here in Silicon Valley
and around the world,
directly with
precision fermentation,
and selling it to cheese makers.
I have eaten cheese
from a Kiwi company
that is making precision
fermentation cheese
here in San Francisco.
- When did you start New
Culture and what's it all about?
- So I started New
Culture in early 2018.
What New Culture does is we
make cow cheese without the cow.
That's animal free,
that's sustainable,
and that's indistinguishable
from the dairy cheese
everyone loves.
And what's actually
very interesting
is that this process of making
an animal protein without
the animal is already used
in the dairy cheese industry.
And now over 90%
of dairy cheeses today
are made using
this animal enzyme
that's made without the animal.
It is tough to be a
Kiwi looking to disrupt
the New Zealand
economy in this way,
but, with the way
the world's going,
we need to change and we need
to be proactive about that.
- New Zealand's dairy exports
could be wiped out
without a single consumer
changing their behavior
from animal proteins
to precision
fermentation proteins.
This is all a
business-to-business disruption.
When is that going to happen?
The technology cost curve
will determine that,
the market will determine that,
but there's no doubt that
it's going to happen.
- I realized that this
disruption is already happening
with investment in
fermentation companies
at the highest level ever.
Over $435 million invested
in just the first half of 2020.
Why wasn't everyone talking
about the end of the cash cow
instead of saying
there's no threat?
Disruptions
usually happen quickly
and wipe out the
existing system.
Think of a forest fire.
When the forest is tinder ready,
just a little spark and
the whole forest goes.
It's what I call market trauma.
If you think your cash
flows are going to drop
by 90% over the next 10 years,
then that is going to be
reflected in your stock today.
Not in 10 years, but today.
- Do you think New
Zealand should be worried
about these
disruptive industries?
- We're looking for a premium
and we have to
produce better products,
better quality products,
convince consumers
that, you know,
they want the best nutrition,
and then we can remain
viable as a farming country.
- The old chestnut of,
"Well, there'll always be a
market for premium products,"
is just so cemented into
the psyche of our leaders.
The dairy industry, no matter
how quickly they pivot,
it's more like they're just
shuffling the, you know,
the chairs on the Titanic.
We need a new boat. Animal free.
When you have old, largely
pale, male, stale leaders,
then to get that new
dialogue coming through
it's almost like
pushing shit uphill.
- They're trying to
slow down change.
And because of that,
they're constantly staying
on the wrong side of history.
- What does that mean
for dairy companies?
What does that mean
for the dairy community?
What does that mean for New
Zealand's communities at large?
This is beyond Fonterra.
This is our livelihood.
- And those are
the sort of questions
that the government really
needs to be thinking about.
And I think that's just
too scary for them.
It's just way too scary.
- I'm trying to wake New
Zealand up to the fact
that there is an urgency.
The scientists get there long
before other people get there.
Lots of people have
talked about pandemics,
including myself for years,
and everybody
ignored us there too.
It's happened with the pandemic.
It's happened with
climate change.
- This is not about
only destruction.
This is also a
massive opportunity.
I mean, I see the precision
fermentation industry
as an emerging
trillion-dollar industry.
- I don't think we
are at all prepared
for a massive
change of this type.
And I don't say that to be
alarmist, more to be realistic.
I would like to see more of
our smarts being packaged up
into intellectual property
rather than selling carcasses
or bags of dehydrated powders.
- New Zealand better
prepare for this disruption.
As in now, as in the
COVID disruption,
those who were prepared
and those who acted decisively,
are the ones who are gonna
come out on top more quickly.
- I was blown away
by everything I'd learned.
And the fact that the government
still seems to be
in denial about it.
That means we are not preparing
and neither are other countries.
It was clear to me that
we're in big trouble
if we don't take this seriously
and make urgent changes.
It turns out that Aotearoa,
New Zealand, the US and the EU,
account for nearly half of
all global dairy production
and these governments are
also in the best position
to help farmers
transition out of dairy,
saving our economy
and our environment.
- We need to support our farming
communities to transition.
I think it is unfair for
decades to have encouraged them
to go into intensive dairy
and then expect them
to somehow tomorrow switch.
- Support people to
actually, you know, change.
We are all products
of where we've come from and
the life we're born into,
but we don't have to
continue this way, you know?
You know, and
we wanna live here.
So, clearly, living
means not dairy farming
'cause then dairy farming's
not really living.
I think we've just
stumbled onto this
fantastic crop for our region.
Pumpkins just seem
to be a boomer, really.
Absolutely boomer.
We're hoping that pumpkin seeds
will wipe the floor with dairy.
Well, if it beat dairy
farming out, return wise,
why would a farmer not do it?
I can't imagine why they
would be so bloody-minded
about milking cows forever.
I think I'm coming
into a good space now,
and it's been the move away
from dairy farming, definitely.
With the future generations
I think the farm will
be in good hands.
The land will be in
good hands, you know?
I'd heard of a
dairy farm near Wellington
that's making a transition to
growing organic vegetables.
Cameron Family Farms
is owned by filmmaker,
James Cameron
and his wife, Suzy.
- We bought our farm in
the Wairarapa in 2011.
We had two dairies
within the farm
and one of them being
a very successful dairy.
Even though I had been in
the environmental
sector for decades,
no one had ever mentioned
anything about
animal agriculture.
They had talked about dead
zones, ocean acidification,
deforestation, biodiversity
loss, et cetera, et cetera.
If you put animal
agriculture in the middle,
you can put all of those
things around the outside
and they all connect.
I didn't know any of this!
And in may of 2012,
we went plant-based and
realized that our dream
to have this beautiful
organic dairy organization
didn't seem like
the right way to go.
So we closed the dairies down.
So now we grow organic veggies.
You need less land,
you need less water,
you need less inputs.
It's a much more efficient
way of growing food.
And most recently the
thing that has come up
that should probably
be the number one thing
on our radar right
now is pandemics.
So 75 to 80% of all diseases
that have been created
have been created because of
the exploitation of animals.
- Is this a change
that you think
other dairy farmers in the
area could also take on?
- One of the things that
we noticed very early on
was just how quickly New
Zealanders can pivot.
Plant-based food products are
the largest-growing sector
within the food sector
around the world.
People have to be
able to do it in a way
that it's lucrative.
It also has to do
with being able to
look at themselves in the
mirror at the end of the day,
knowing what it's
doing to the land,
knowing what it's doing
to people's health,
knowing what it's
doing to the animals.
Even if it was
healthy to eat animals,
there is no way that
we can feed humankind
by eating animals.
No wonder we already
have a world hunger issue.
It's partly to do with
how we're using the land.
One acre of land can produce
15 times more
protein from plants
than the same area of land
used for farming animals.
We're also using
over three-quarters
of the world's
agricultural land
for farmed animals and to
grow food to feed them.
- Just imagine more grain
today is grown to feed
our farm animals
than starving people.
You know, what we're doing
now doesn't make sense.
So we need a whole
new way of thinking.
In 2019,
world-leading scientists
from across the globe
came together to
answer this question,
"Can we feed a future
population of 10 billion people
a healthy diet within
planetary boundaries?"
They discovered that
without a global shift
to a plant-based diet,
today's children
will inherit a planet
that's been severely degraded
and where much of the population
will increasingly suffer
from malnutrition and
preventable disease.
From everything I'd learned,
it wasn't just dairy
that we needed to move
away from consuming.
It was all animal products.
If everyone ate
a plant-based diet
we'd free up land area greater
than the size of Africa.
A lot of the world's farmland
could be returned
to native species,
an effective way
of storing carbon
and increasing biodiversity
at the same time.
In New Zealand,
going plant-based would
reduce our dietary emissions
by over 40% along with
saving the healthcare system
up to $20 billion
over our lifetime.
- Every time you put
plant-based food on your plate,
you're doing something
good for your health,
and for the environment
and for the animals.
It will not matter if
we have electric cars
or if we have sustainable
clothing to wear
if we don't do something
about our environment.
And that is a huge piece of it,
to be able to shift away
from animal agriculture.
- For me,
dairy was a normal part of
life growing up in New Zealand.
So it's been a disturbing
journey coming to understand
that milk isn't the
wholesome product
we're led to believe it is,
and that animal agriculture
is damaging our
future in so many ways.
But I have hope
for a different future.
Instead of continuing
down this doomed path,
we could grow healthier
and more sustainable
plant-based food from less land.
Re-wild the land we gain back
and live ethically with
all life on this planet.
Companies like Fonterra
will have to decide
which side of history
they want to be on,
to keep hiding from the truth
or to work together
on solutions.
- We all each have
a responsibility
because every day we live,
we make some
impact on the planet.
We have a choice as
to what sort of impact
we're going to make.
And if billions of people make
ethical choices every day,
even small ones,
that's going to lead to change
and eventually the impossible
will have become possible
and we'll change the world.