The latter is seen largely as testament to the company’s ongoing commitment to its farmers, employees and the local community.

The 2024 Northern Rivers Business Awards recognise and celebrates business excellence across its diverse regional economy with strong industries such as manufacturing, tourism, health and education.

The award judges commended Norco for its outstanding business practices and demonstrated excellence with safeguarding its community of 281 farmer members while continuing to build a robust, fully integrated business with outstanding expertise in food and rural retail operations.

The business also received the award for Excellence in Sustainability.

Norco sustainability manager Antene Seah said the award recognised Norco’s demonstration of its commitment to sustainable business practices and playing a vital role in reducing the impact of its operations for the environment across key areas.

“At Norco we are committed to becoming one of the most sustainable dairy manufacturers in Australia from our supply chain operations right through to the production and processing of our milk and other dairy products,” Ms Seah said.

“Therefore, it is such an honour to be recognised for the sustainability initiatives and projects we have.

“We couldn’t have achieved this without the dedication and commitment from everyone in the co-operative.”

Norco CEO Michael Hampson was recognised as an outstanding and inspirational leader, winning the Outstanding Business Leader Award

During his tenure, Mr Hampson has implemented major initiatives to support Norco employees and farmer members.

One initiative has been commissioning and launching the National Farmer Wellbeing Report to understand the scale of mental health in farmers.

The launch aligned with raising funds for the Black Dog Institute to fund research and resources for mental health in rural and regional areas.

Other initiatives included holding the farm gate milk price in line with last financial year, paying the highest price per litre in NSW and Queensland, and the Norco cow purchasing program designed to assist Norco farmers to rebuild their lactating herds post-floods and address industry-wide supply issues.

Norco was established in 1895 in Byron Bay, NSW and is a 100 per cent Australian farmer-owned co-operative, with 281 active members on 190 dairy farms in northern NSW and south-east Queensland.

The co-operative annual milk production is 219 million litres.