New Zealanders will raise a glass to Fonterra's recent move introduce free milk into schools
Fonterra delivered New Zealand’s children– and the country – an early Christmas present by announcing the return to free milk in schools.
The Milk for Schools programme, which aims to deliver fresh milk to all primary schools nationwide by the start of 2013, was announced by the dairy co-operative in early December. The first to benefit will be 14,000 children from 110 Northland primary schools – which will serve as a regional pilot to test the logistics of the programme. The pilot kicks off in the first term of 2012, with the intention of expanding it to the rest of NZ by the start of 2013.
Already the early indications are that the Northland community will strongly support the pilot scheme. The company intends to roll out the scheme nationwide, but hopes to get other companies in the packaging, logistics and refrigeration industries on board. It also hopes to interest the Government in contributing in some way to the costs.
Fonterra has not disclosed the costs of a national programme saying these have yet to be worked through. No matter what it costs, the payback for Fonterra and the dairy sector in general is – as the MasterCard advertisements say – priceless!
The move comes at a good time for the company, which has copped criticism from consumers for its high domestic milk prices.
Fonterra has linked the strong dairy prices at home to robust returns it is getting from international dairy markets, because it pays its 10,500 farmers a single price for milk supplied.
Consumer NZ head Sue Chetwin – who has led the public charge over local milk prices – has welcomed the move. Even firebrand Northland Maori MP Hone Hawawira – not normally associated with praising corporates or those who do well in life – was quick to acknowledge the good this programme will do. Child health advocates, teacher unions and editorial writers up and down the country have all praised the scheme.
One of the few critics has been the Green Party – which proves when it comes to the sector the only thing green about the Greens is the anti- dairy industry bile they continually spew– claiming it was little more than a glorified PR stunt and not something that a ‘profit-driven corporate’ should be doing.
There is no doubt the Milk in Schools programme is a PR stunt. But so what? It is delivering a benefit to kids and shows that Fonterra is an integral and committed part of New Zealand’s community.
What the Greens and other critics hate about this scheme is that it shows that companies – even huge ones like Fonterra – can and do good things for more than just our economy. It’s called corporate citizenship.
Fonterra recently turned 10 years old and this latest move shows it is growing up and wants to play a positive part in New Zealand’s wider society. Most New Zealanders will welcome this move.
It shows that the milk of human kindness – pun intended – is not the sole domain of anti-establishment types, whale saviours and/or tree sitters.