All language subtitles for Milked.2021.1080p.WEBRip.x264.AAC-[YTS.BZ]ENG

Downloaded from
YTS.BZ

Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.BZ

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 Māori.

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 Māori, the
Māori 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 Whangārei
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 Māori,

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.

Māori men are 70% more likely
to die from prostate cancer

than non-Māori.

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.

Māori 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,

Māori 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 Taupō
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.