2023-06-22 18:07:52
Catharinus Wierda (51) worked as a sustainability specialist at various dairy companies. “I did a lot of diplomacy, but there was not enough ambition in the sector,” he says. So six years ago he started his own sustainable cheese dairy, De Fryske in Lemmer.
De Fryske buys the milk from four Frisian farmers and processes it into cheese. Wierda rents space in a factory in Rouveen in Overijssel for cheese production. The cheese is then ripened in Kerkdriel in Brabant. Stirring the cheese tub yourself, Catharinus Wierda has no need for that. “Sustainable cheese also needs to be produced efficiently in order to grow quickly and remain affordable.”
“When you’re small, you get hugged,” says Wierda, “but then the big parties go back to the order of the day. The Fryske must grow to show the dairy sector that they also have to run faster for sustainability.”
Power lies with a few large companies
The motivation lies in his youth. He mentions the environmental disaster with the oil tanker Exxon Valdez in Alaska in 1989. Nature suffered enormous damage and we know, he says, that things can be done differently, but we don’t. What he also remembers from his childhood is the sound of the black-tailed godwit, a bird whose number of breeding pairs has plummeted enormously. He is convinced that if farmers work more sustainably, that sound will return.
Wierda is a farmer’s son from the Frisian Balk area. He studied at the agricultural college and Wageningen University (soil science) and subsequently worked for various organizations in the agricultural sector, such as farmers’ organization LTO and the Ministry of Agriculture. In the last fifteen to twenty years he has tried to promote sustainability, including at the NZO, the branch organization of the dairy industry, at cheese maker Cono (Beemster cheese) and ice cream maker Ben & Jerry’s.
The problem in the sector is that power lies with a few companies, with FrieslandCampina at the forefront, says Wierda. They determine what happens and are not in a hurry to make things more sustainable. “It is clear that their articles of association do not state that sustainability is their main objective. Of course they have plans to work more sustainably, but they don’t really opt for it. They take very small steps. Not choosing is also a choice and that leads to farmers continuing with intensive agriculture, which is bad for the soil, bad for the landscape, bad for the climate and bad for the black-tailed godwit.”
Keep land wet and do not mow
Six years ago, Wierda started De Fryske. Until a year ago he combined that with a job at development organization Solidaridad. Now he is in a business premises in Lemmer with five employees.
De Fryske’s rules include that farmers who supply the milk keep 20 percent of the land wet and do not mow until later in the season. Meadow birds can do their thing there. Mowing can be done later in the year if necessary. The cows must go to pasture for at least 180 days a year. At FrieslandCampina that is 120 days.
The grassland is not plowed, so that soil life is left alone, and herbs grow, which increases biodiversity. The cows eat grass and concentrates from the region and certainly not soya from South America. The cows can also eat residual products from the food industry, such as brewer’s grains. Manure is only spread on the farm’s own land and less and less artificial fertilizer is used.
Difference between sustainable and nature inclusive
Why doesn’t Wierda make organic cheese if he wants to improve the landscape, nature and climate? “Organic cheese is already being offered. What can I add to that? Most of the cheese sold is conventional cheese. I really want to change something and then you have to be in that segment of the market. I call what we do ‘nature-inclusive’ and that is very close to organic. It’s a bit more intensive and some fertilizer is used, but there are better rules for animal welfare and biodiversity than organic. If farmers adhere to the rules that we have agreed upon, there is a solid foundation.”
“We have a Better Life quality mark from the Animal Protection and a recognition by the Bird Protection. Rules are important, they provide clarity to the farmer and the consumer. Compliance with this is monitored by an independent agency. What I hope is that other dairy or cheese makers will be asked why they don’t do what we do, because we show that it is possible.”
The Fryske is not skimmed and no e-numbers and coloring agents are added, says the entrepreneur. “We now make 8,000 kilos a week,” says Wierda. It is sold through its own webshop, at cheese shops, at supermarkets in Friesland and nationally at Albert Heijn and Plus.
Need additional capital to grow business
Wierda wants to increase production fivefold. For that he needs extra capital. Maturing cheese is expensive. The farmer must be paid, but the cheese has not yet been sold. Matured cheese is on the shelf for three to four months, aged cheese can wait a year.
The Frisian cheese maker is now a cooperative and issued certificates with a minimum value of 500 euros. He raised 750,000 euros in recent weeks, so that he can grow from 4 to 20 farmers who supply milk.
“These new members of the cooperative come up with advice, solicited and unsolicited. Annoying? No, they are involved in making a product. The connection that used to exist between a manufacturer and the consumer is back. Then people are willing to pay for what they get. If the producer and consumer do not know each other, there is a strong tendency to opt for the lowest price instead of quality.”
Is that growth realistic? “The demand is there and otherwise we tap into it. The farmers are willing,” says Catharinus Wierda. “I have a list of interested parties.”
Wierda is also not worried regarding consumers who watch their spending due to high inflation, among other things. “There will always be a market for cheaper cheese, which is less sustainable and costs a lower amount. In general, I expect consumers to become more critical and expect sustainable cheese to be available and to be prepared to pay a little more.”
Moreover, he argues, consumers do not pay much more for De Fryske than for regular cheese. “Our farmers receive 7 cents more for nature-inclusive milk than they would receive for conventional milk. Organic milk currently earns farmers an extra 12 to 15 cents. In the end, our nature-inclusive cheese costs regarding 1 euro more per kilo in the store than conventional cheese. So the question is: why not opt for this more sustainable way of producing food? Why continue with a method that offers no future to farmers and is at the expense of nature?”
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