FARM REPORT ▶▶▶ A2 big business in Brazil
Santa Rita Farm focuses on milk production and adopting technologies in order to add value and be sustainable. Founded in 1945, in Descalvado city, Brazil, the farm is also internationally prized for its A2 milk.
BY DANIEL AZEVEDO C Profi le
About: Run by Roberto Jank, president at
Agrindus.The farm has 250 employees and operates on 2,000 hectares of land. Farm: Santa Rita Farm, owned by Agrindus, is the third largest milk farm in Brazil Location: Descalvado city, Brazil Cows: 4,800 cows (all Holstein, 2,000 lactating) Milk: Produces A2 milk and A1 milk (for other dairy companies)
“We can send the milk from cows to pasteuri- sation easily; it is very rapid and efficient. This way, the bacteria counts in those products are very low,” Agrin- dus president Jank explains.
16 ▶ DAIRY GLOBAL | Volume 8, No. 2, 2021
urrently, Santa Rita Farm has 4,800 cows (all Hol- stein, 2,000 lactating) producing 24,000 tonnes of milk per year, which is ten times higher than 40 years ago. The farm processes this milk into
several dairy products. “It is a family business that values sustainable production, including the social and economic aspects. With our products, comes a taste of our history and essence,” says Roberto Jank, president at Agrindus, which owns the farm. The property has been dedicated to milk for 75 years, but in the 1950s started to industrialise products, firstly calcium caseinate for the pharmaceutical industry. Then Santa Rita Farm produced cheese in the 1960s, milk of type B in the 1970s through to the 1990s and then type A in 1998. During this time the family created their own brand ‘Letti’ and, in 2018, invested in A2 milk. “Our milk production began many decades ago but intensified after the 1980s. That
means modern infrastructure, a factory and high standards for animal welfare, among other things,” says Jank. Nowadays, Santa Rita Farm uses around 600 hectares for milk production, with most of that area dedicated to crops for cat- tle fodder. The harvests are totally fertilised using fertirriga- tion (manure from the stables is used to irrigate the crops), without chemical fertilisation. “Our products are 100% made on the farm, from milking to filling. Our cows are Holstein, all born here, and are located 30 metres from the processing fac- tory. So all the milk is fully tracked and bottled rapidly, in less than 24 hours,” highlights Jank.
A2 milk In basic terms, A2 milk production depends on the cow’s ge- nome. Cows have genes A1 A1, A1 A2 and A2 A2, and it is possible to select animals to produce only A2 milk. The A1 gene is more frequent in the Holstein breed than in the Zebu and the Guernsey breeds. The first to cash in on the A2 milk market was a company in New Zealand. In 2015, one of its patents expired, opening the door to competitors. But even before then some Brazilian producers were already preparing themselves. Beta-caseins represent 30% of the proteins in the milk and have a complex composition. In some consumers the A1 protein can provoke allergic reactions and have an impact on digestion. “It is a compound known to be difficult to digest by humans and that promotes incomplete assimilation. Some people have discomfort when they drink normal milk, something very similar to the discomfort of lactose intolerance,” Jank reports. Since 1967, Jank’s family has been selecting genetics for their herd, but the focus became A2 A2 cows later on, in 2017. The group selected some animals, multiplied them and a few months later became certified as the first milk farm in the country to produce a 100% A2 milk. “We use the same structure, but split the cows by their genet- ics. We also produce A1 milk to sell to other dairy companies in Brazil. Our A2 milk is entirely used in Letti’s products in our own factory,” Jank adds. As a pioneer of this type of milk in Brazil, Santa Rita Farm has received the “Best Initiative in the Agricultural Sector” award in Spain. The prize aims to recog- nise agricultural projects that stand out for being innovative in production and marketing systems. Promoted by Mapfre Foundation, the award was delivered to Jank by the Spanish Emeritus Queen Sofia, personally, in 2019.
Structure The Santa Rita Farm is the third largest milk farm in Brazil and has five certifications for quality and sustainability. They have
PHOTOS: AGRINDUS
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