Little Big Dairy: a sustainable farm-to-bottle revolution
In the face of declining milk production across Australia, this family run dairy near Dubbo is revolutionising the industry with eco-friendly solutions.
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Little Big Dairy’s scenic farm near Dubbo is not just a pretty sight — it’s leading the charge in sustainable dairy farming.
In the face of declining milk production across Australia – the nation’s milk pool down 304 million litres from last year – this family-run business is stepping up to the challenge with revolutionary eco-friendly solutions.
With a 100 per cent solar-powered dairy during the day, a strong commitment to animal welfare practices, the company owns its entire supply chain, ensuring a sustainable approach from farm to bottle and maximising every resource in its milk production.
Celebrating its 10-year anniversary next month, the farm is led by fifth-generation dairy farmer Steve Chesworth, along with his wife Erika and their three children.
The company bottles more than 490,000L of milk per month, supplying 1000 retailers and cafes, including independent supermarkets, Woolworths, Coles, Harris Farm Markets and David Jones. This is more than double their customer base since 2019.
Mr Chesworth said the growing trend of Australian shoppers actively supporting eco-friendly brands had spurred significant changes in the industry.
“We see ourselves as having a bit of a responsibility to tell the story [of our sustainable practices] for the greater industry … we don’t see it as we do this and no one else does, it’s something that a big cohort of our dairy industry have actually started doing with us,” Mr Chesworth said.
The farm’s goal of becoming Australia’s first commercial circular dairy brand – employing sustainable practises to minimise waste and promote resource efficiency – by 2025 was furthered by a Woolworths Dairy Innovation Fund grant two years ago.
The grant was awarded for Little Big’s proposal to build a solar power operated bore and water storage dam solution.
“[The grant] helped us to progress our project which is essentially solar power water reservoir for excess water that we can pump in there during peak times and then integrate it into our irrigation system and also allow us to capture our effluent water and use that as recycling,” Mr Chesworth said.
Launched in November 2020, the Woolworths Dairy Innovation Fund aimed invested $5 million in up to 60 dairy businesses over three years.
“We really see that Woolworths has acknowledged the food security issue and that plays to [the need for] sustainable businesses, we need generational dairy farms for food security because as we speak, the Australian milk production is still shrinking,” Mr Chesworth said.
“After the recent history that dairy farmers have had with supermarkets and the discounting milk, it’s really heartening for us to see that Woolworths are acknowledging this in a really practical way.”
Woolworths dairy merchandise manager Will Herron said the company was set to provide grants to “dozens of dairy farmers who are making innovative and inspirational changes to they way they run their businesses, laying the groundwork for generations to come”.
He said Little Big Dairy was a standout example of the dairy industry’s progress in embracing innovation and resourcefulness.
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