Lactose-free tops feedback

Robin and Lois Greer were on holiday in Australia when they stumbled upon their next product range – lactose-free milk and yoghurt. “We discovered that a friend of ours was producing these products for the Australian market,” says Robin Greer.

“More than 70% of the population is supposedly intolerant to lactose to some extent. Once we knew the volumes he was doing, we figured that if there was a market for lactose-free products across the Tasman, there was a market for them in New Zealand.”

The Greers spent most of 2011 developing their lactose-free range, which was released in the New Zealand market in September. Their lactose-free products include milk made from organic wholemilk, and two types of yoghurt – plain and honey-sweetened.

Robin Greer says they have had more market feedback from customers on these products than on anything else they have made. The Greers produce their organic products, which also include cheeses, on their 330-cow, 130-hectare, BioGro-certified organic farm at Tuturau, in Southland. It’s just 75 metres from their milking shed to their cheese-making factory.

They have been dairy farmers for around 30 years, and it was a history of cancer in both their families that encouraged them to turn organic.  They started producing cheese, milk and yoghurt for private customers because they say they had always wanted to produce fresh healthy food for people at a reasonable price. The farm produces around 100,000kg milksolids each year.

The cheese factory processes about 5% of the farm’s production every day, making around 500kg of cheese a week – camembert, plain and cumin feta, colby and garlic colby, farmhouse, blue, halloumi, and three cheddars (plain, cumin, and sage). Organic milk is sold in Southland and Otago.

The Greers admit it has not been easy as an artisan producer competing against the big players. For example, within weeks of releasing their lactose-free products, a competitor came out with something similar. But despite this, they say they are holding their own in the market.

In its three years of cheese-making Retro Organics has won awards for five of its 11 cheeses in the New Zealand Champions of Cheese awards. Plus awards at the World Jersey Conference for cheeses made from jersey cow milk.

The awards have helped give credibility, says Robin Greer. “It certainly makes it easier to sell a product if it has won an award. We’ve had an increase in sales as a result.”

Retro products are sold in organic and health food stores, and big-chain supermarkets. As their business grows the Greers dream of one day turning all the milk their farm produces into their own products.

“We believe there will be growing demand for our products,” says Robin. “We are already seeing consumers wanting greater traceability of their food. Because all our products are produced on our farm, people know exactly where they come from. We don’t standardise our products or homogenise – everything comes straight from the dairy shed.