Lion Dairy & Drinks (Lion) is delighted to announce the recipients of this year’s grants program, delivered in partnership with Landcare Australia.
After a successful eleven years partnering with Landcare to deliver the Lion Dairy Pride Landcare Grants program – supporting sustainable business initiatives for Lion’s dairy farmers – the program has this year extended to include Lion’s growers with the launch of the Lion Orchard Pride Landcare Grants Program.
This year, nine dairy farmers and two orange growers received up to $10,000 each in funding to support the implementation of sustainability initiatives for their businesses.
Murray Jeffrey, Lion Dairy & Drinks’ Agricultural Procurement Director, was pleased to announce this year’s recipients and to extend the program to include Lion’s orange growers.
“Supporting our farmer and orange grower partners to become sustainable businesses for the long term is a key priority for Lion,” Murray said. “We look forward to seeing how this year’s recipients implement meaningful change in their businesses thanks to the grants.”
Recipients will be devoting their funds to the implementation of a range of sustainability projects, including installation of energy saving equipment, planting of windbreaks, increasing the presence of robotic assistance on-farm, and solar installation.
Landcare Australia CEO Shane Norrish said: “We are delighted to continue our partnership with Lion, and to now also offer sustainability grants to Lion’s orange grower partners. In a challenging year for the agriculture industry, Landcare Australia is proud to offer a program that helps mitigate some of the challenges farmers and growers are facing.
“Our partnership with Lion has, to date, seen the implementation of fantastic sustainability initiatives for dairy farmers across the country, with previous recipients making significant improvements to the sustainability, productivity and profitability of their businesses.”
The Lion Dairy Pride Landcare Grants program forms part of Lion Dairy Pride, a dairy farm sustainability program launched by Lion in 2016. The program offers farmers who supply Lion a unique way to measure, evaluate and improve key areas of sustainability on their farm.
In 2018 Lion launched the Lion Orchard Pride program to offer a similar support system for fruit growers, tailored to their industry’s needs and now including the Lion Orchard Pride Landcare Grants program.
2018 Lion Dairy Pride Landcare Grant winners:
• Jonathan Pethybridge, JP ER Pethybridge, VIC
• Ray Kitchen, Kitchen Farms, WA
• Wayne Dobe, the Valley Dairy, QLD
• Ruth Chalk, Chalk partnership, QLD
• Robert Jordan, Bonaccord, King Island
• Alison Finlayson, Redhollow Farms, TAS
• Murray Williamson, MJ & JM Williamson, TAS
• Rodney Richardson, Penshurst Pastoral, NSW
• Trevor Parrish, TJ &LR Parrish, NSW
2018 Lion Orchard Pride Landcare Grant winners:
• Neil and Lynda Boardman, NSW
• G & A Pantano, Pantano Farms, NSW