One of the most innovative dairy products on the market is made right here in Camperdown.
Australian Dairy Nutritionals (ADN) are now making certified organic A2 protein infant formula.
The product is unique in not only how it is made, but that it all comes from local dairies owned by ADN.
Originally Camperdown Dairy, ADN came to be after the company was purchased by Australian Dairy Farms. This gave them access to local dairy farms that were converted to certified organic farms and then A2 cows shortly after the purchase.
On how they came to make this change, CEO Peter Skene said they looked at how the business is different, and where the value lies on the market.
“Most dairy companies, if not nearly all dairy companies, of any size, don't own the dairy farms. They contract from farmers. We do.” Mr Skene said.
“We went down the path of converting those farms first to organic and then to all A2 cows to provide a scarce raw material. Organic A2 has only been around anywhere in the world for about 18 months.
Then we looked at all the things you can do with organic milk around the world and where it was creating value and where it wasn't. And we decided organic A2 infant formula was the way to go.”
Originally located at the old Bonlac Foods site at 325 Manifold Street, Camperdown, the company established a new site in 2020 on 160 Depot Road, Camperdown, as part of the Camperdown Production Precinct, thanks to the assistance of Corangamite Shire.
“Corangamite Shire did a study for us and picked out three sites that we could go to. This was one of them.” Mr Skene said.
“There's substantial power here for us and others in the future. The road access is really good and we're a little bit out of town.”
The 10-acre site currently has a purpose-built manufacturing warehouse at the front, and they have plans to expand it down the site and add a canning facility.
“We will build on to the end of this site and eventually we will have raw milk coming in one side and infant formula going out the other, and then a warehouse and then straight to the market.”
On establishing regionally, Mr Skene mentioned three key things; skilled labour, location and adding value.
“The availability of skilled labour is a really big plus for regional Victoria in dairy, and also the space and the ability to do things that you can't do in a landlocked Melbourne; from a point of view of freight, from a point of just the available land, from the point of view of the cost of the land,” he said.
“If you've got to transport the milk, you might as well transport the finished product and add the value out here in Western Victoria.”
You can learn more about Australian Dairy Nutritionals via their website adnl.com.au/