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Category: Business, Economics and Finance / Environmentally Sustainable Business / Dairy Production / Agricultural Crops

Bellamy's urges Tasmanian dairy farmers to go organic

Saturday, 20 Aug 2016 06:27:00 | Carla Howarth

There are great opportunities for farmers who convert to organic, says Ms McBain. (ABC News: Carla Howarth)

Tasmanian baby food and infant formula manufacturer Bellamy's says it will begin to source milk for its baby formula within the state if local dairy farms convert to certified organic.

The Launceston-based company has revealed a 322 per cent rise in profit, recording a net after-tax profit of $38 million last financial year, compared with $9 million the year before.

Bellamy's managing director Laura McBain said the company was encouraging Tasmanian dairy farmers to convert to organic.

"We only source some of our apples, fruit and vegetable products from Tasmania; we're yet to source our milk," she said.

"However, we do have a program in place where we're encouraging Tasmanian dairy farmers to convert to organic, and we expect to see the fruits of those conversions to organic to be taking place for us in [financial years] '17 and '18," she said.

Ms McBain said the company, which listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in 2014, had interest from Tasmanian producers.

"We're certainly seeing a lot of interest from conventional dairy farmers in Australia, particularly in Tasmania, and we're already seeing some of those farmers choose to convert to organic," she said.

"We really believe there are great opportunities for Tasmanian farmers to convert - economically, socially and environmentally, as well."

The company has attributed its surging local and international sales to a heavy social media presence and demand for organic ingredients.

According to the company's financial results, revenue from sales in China was growing at 331 per cent.

"China is an amazing market," Ms McBain said.

"There are around 300,000 babies born in Australia every year and there's around 20 million babies in China.

"We still form a small part of the opportunity in China, and the size of the prize is still quite big."

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