Gloriavale milk contract suspended
Westland Milk Products has indefinitely suspended milk collection from dairy farms owned by the Gloriavale Christian Community.
The suspension begins on June 13, to coincide with the end of the milking season, so there will be no issues around livestock welfare or milk disposal.
But the West Coast dairy company has made it clear Gloriavale will need to make some changes before it will again take milk under a contract understood to be worth millions of dollars a year.
‘‘Gloriavale would need to demonstrate it can adhere to the standards and values of not only Westland, but the standards and values of the wider New Zealand community as well as our customers before any resumption at a future date,’’ said Westland Dairy Company chief executive Richard Wyeth.
The company had earlier said it was ‘‘exploring legal avenues’’ regarding its milk contract.
It provided a written statement about the indefinite suspension, and declined to elaborate on the standards and values it expected Gloriavale to meet.
The decision comes in the wake of an Employment Court finding that Gloriavale businesses, including its three dairy farms, had used child labour and treated workers as volunteers, when they were employees entitled to be paid minimum wage.
The new milking season begins in August, giving Gloriavale leaders time to get their house in order.
The West Coast Christian Community operates as a registered charity and according to its annual statement to Charities Services, its ‘‘biological assets’’ last year included 2960 dairy cows.
Based on Dairy NZ’s industry database, and the average forecast farm gate milk price, Gloriavale’s income from its farms could be in the region of $10m.
Development West Coast chief executive Heath Milne said that according to Infometrics estimates, the Lake Brunner area, which includes Gloriavale, last year contributed $27m in GDP, mostly from dairy farming ($16.8m).
However, he said many Gloriavale residents may not be officially recorded as employed, so their jobs would not be accounted for in the GDP data.
The Employment Court finding could also have an impact on Gloriavale’s honey, Moo Chews, and health supplement businesses, and has already hit its Value Proteins meal plant.