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PARTNERSHIPS

Business based on respect

Long-term and reliable partnerships based on honesty and ethical, sustainable procurement of raw materials result in respectful supply chains. This, in turn, guarantees the quality of our products and is an important factor in ensuring the future viability of our business.

We believe in long-term partnerships

Honest business and a respectful supply chain: this is only possible through reliable, long-term partnerships with suppliers and production partners. In relation to this, the most important cornerstones for us are: transparency, dialogue as equals, fair pricing, respect and mutual commitment to trustful collaboration.

Valuable raw ingredients from strong partners

Our high-quality organic food for babies and infants requires constant, crisis-proof collaboration with our partners. This is why we opt for strong partners who produce organic and biodynamic products and cooperate with farming associations.

 

However, both we and our customers want to know where the raw ingredients come from. Intense dialogue with our partners creates this trustful transparency. This means we can precisely track our ingredients back to their origins and thus ensure the highest quality. For us, building reliable partnerships with fair pricing is more important than maximising profits. This is why we agree on binding purchase volumes and prices with our partners every year.

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Selecting and maintaining close relationships with cultivation and production partners is one of the main challenges. Although we use the certification of such farms in accordance with the EU organic, Bioland and Demeter seals as guidance, we also attach great importance to sustainable issues that go beyond such certification. Our supplier management makes it easier for us to select suitable partners and helps us to check them against sustainability criteria that are important to us.

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Sustainability can only be achieved through continuous improvement and professionalisation on economic, ecological and social levels. Reaching the highest possible standards together – this is of paramount importance to both Holle and our partners.

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‘Holle quality is created through true teamwork – our products are the result of many years of close partnerships, the sum of intensive exchange and dialogue and trust that has grown over the course of many years.’
Klaus Brutschin, Agricultural Engineer
‘Holle quality is created through true teamwork – our products are the result of many years of close partnerships, the sum of intensive exchange and dialogue and trust that has grown over the course of many years.’
Klaus Brutschin, Agricultural Engineer

Supply chain management

 

Sustainability throughout the entire supply chain

We see sustainability as a way of life. This is why we constantly exchange ideas with our partners on how we can work together to make sustainable improvements throughout the value chain, save CO2, reduce packaging material, optimise energy concepts and act in a more climate-friendly manner in everything we do.

 

What is behind our supply chain management?

Wherever possible, we not only choose regional raw ingredients, but also work with our suppliers to ensure environmental, social and employment standards throughout the entire supply chain. We promote small-scale farm structures that help to improve soil and biodiversity. From the field all the way to our customers, we are dedicated to the constant analysis and optimisation of everything we do in order to minimise our emissions.

In order to deal with all of these factors safely and effectively, we rely on sound supply chain management. This also includes binding contracts and quality assurance agreements with all of our partners. When covering our raw ingredient requirements, we pay close attention to sustainable origins and focus on regionality or procurement in close proximity to our production partners wherever possible. Where this is not possible, for instance with bananas, we work with partners who ensure that raw ingredients are sourced ethically and sustainably.

The origins of our raw ingredients

We procure the majority of our main raw ingredients from Europe, provided that they can be grown there and are available. For raw ingredients that we are not able to source in Europe, we have specific requirements that our suppliers must meet, for instance, for palm oil.

Our palm oil is sustainable and socially responsible

The Holle organic palm oil comes from certified sustainable production (RSPO segregated) in Colombia, Ecuador and West Africa, where it is made under close consideration of social and ecological aspects and without the use of pesticides.

Why we consciously use palm oil

From a nutritional point of view, infant formula must meet special requirements. During their first year of life, babies need a high proportion of saturated fatty acids, which is why we use a blend of different vegetable oils in our infant formulas. Palm oil is extracted from the pulp of oil palm trees and is an important ingredient in Holle infant formulas made from cow’s milk.

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Palm oil-free alternatives in the Holle range

Our recipes with wholesome organic full-cream goat’s milk make it possible for us to dispense with using palm oil. This is because, along with vegetable oils, goat’s milk fat provides the necessary saturated fatty acids and thus makes the use of palm oil superfluous. Holle formulas from goat’s milk are therefore an excellent alternative.

Discover our goat’s milk range

Organic Infant Goat Milk Formula 1

Organic Infant Goat Milk Follow-on Formula 2

Organic Infant Goat Milk Follow-on Formula 3

Organic Growing-up Goat Milk 4

Countries of origin for the main raw ingredients

 

Germany:

Milk, wheat, spelt, oats, chicken, beef,

vegetables such as carrots, potatoes, pumpkin,

parsnips, courgette and spinach

Italy:

Reice, apple, pear,

apricot, peach and

carrot purées

 

Romania:

Rice and tomato purée

 

Hungary:

Spelt, millet, rapeseed oil and sunflower oil

 

Netherlands:

Beetroot and goat’s milk

 

Austria:

Milk, wheat, spelt, corn, millet and oats

 

Poland:

Millet, oats, buckwheat, raspberries

 

Our raw ingredients and production partners

 

We are proud to present some of our partners:

 

Lindenhof farm in the southern Black Forest

Goat farming is a key business area at Lindenhof farm in the southern Black Forest. The farm grows its own feed, hay and grass silage for the animals.

Since 2017, the farm has been gradually converting to biodynamic cultivation. The species-appropriate husbandry focuses on giving the animals ample space for grazing and exercise, allowing natural reproduction and, of course, no dehorning. We buy goat’s milk from Lindenhof farm as part of the Black Forest Goat’s Milk Initiative. At the Holle Group’s cutting-edge drying plant, which is specially designed for milk raw ingredients for baby food, the milk is processed into powdered full-cream goat’s milk for use in our Holle formulas.
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The Black Forest Goat’s Milk Initiative

We have been supporting the Black Forest Goat’s Milk Initiative since 2012. This aims to preserve small-scale farms in the Black Forest and secures their long-term economic viability through stable pricing structures.

The goat’s milk we procure from these farms is used for our Holle formula from goat’s milk. We offer our farmers long-term contracts. Demand is constantly growing, and we are also on the hunt for new goat’s milk suppliers. ‘By 2025, we aim to be working with around 20 partner farms throughout the
Black Forest, which will mean a total of up to 4,000 goats,’ states Klaus Brutschin, producer advisor at Holle.
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Fruit and vegetables from sunny South Tyrol

In the heart of the Italian province of Trentino lies the home of Dolomiti Fruits, our production partner for our Demeter fruit and vegetable pouches.

Although the area is predominantly known for being Europe’s largest apple-growing region, pears, peaches, apricots and kiwis also thrive here. The majority of the Demeter raw ingredients for our purée pouches come from the direct vicinity of the production plant. Short transport routes for high-quality produce are our main reason for collaborating with this partner.
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Would you like to become a goat’s milk supplier for Holle?

Please send us an email to: kbrutschin@holle.ch

 

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Production partner locations

Sustainable and climate-friendly: we pay close attention to strict quality criteria from the outset, especially when it comes to our raw ingredients. Wherever possible, we source them regionally, process them gently, pack them responsibly and keep all transport routes as short as possible all the way to our end consumers.

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Code of Conduct

 

The highest possible social and ethical principles form the basis of our Holle Code of Conduct, which lies at the root of everything we do. Our Code of Conduct bundles our requirements for suppliers: respect for international human rights, the renunciation of child labour, fair working conditions and environmental aspects, animal welfare and business integrity.

Stronger together

Our Code of Conduct forms the interface between our internal goals and our expectations concerning the conduct of our partners throughout the value chain. It consistently implements the expectations that our trading partners have of us and our supply chains. With this Code of Conduct, we exercise our duties from the German Supply Chain Act (LkSG) in our supply chains.

Together with our suppliers, we implement our Holle Code of Conduct in order to ensure key aspects like quality, environmental protection and fair, social working conditions throughout the value chain. Production and working conditions must comply with the ILO Conventions, the UN Global Compact, OECD Guidelines and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations. We also expect our partners to support us in the implementation of our ecological sustainability goals and assume responsibility for the areas of climate and resource protection, raw ingredient procurement, biodiversity preservation and animal welfare themselves.

Network partners & cooperation

Proactive commitment and close networking with associations, institutions and partners are a matter of course for us. This helps us to actively engage in dialogue and benefit from each other, expand networks and ensure that we are always up to date with the latest information. Collaboration and association membership are also important in order to have an influence on political decisions.

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Demeter

The oldest organic association with the strictest organic guidelines since 1924.
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AÖL

With over 125 members, the Association of Organic Food Processors (AöL) promotes ecological and sustainable food.
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SINA

The Swiss Infant Nutrition Association (SINA) represents the interests of baby food manufacturers in Switzerland.
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Diätverband

The Diätverband nutritional association represents the interests of dietary food manufacturers in relation to government bodies, science and the public on a national and European level.
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BNN

The Association of Organic Processors, Wholesalers and Retailers (BNN) represents the political and economic interests of organic food producers and traders.