Guest column – Tim Mackle

The tough get going

By Tim Mackle

The chief executive of DairyNZ says the year ahead will be dynamic and challenging for farmers and the industry.

Globally, our Kiwi dairy farmers are in the enviable position of being among the world’s best producers of milk. This is despite currently facing some confronting challenges, including responding to regulatory change, inflation, weather challenges and staffing on farm.

We are world leaders thanks to decades of expertise on farm and because, frankly, Kiwi farmers are incredibly resilient and hard working. This resilience has led to dairy exports hitting new highs, resulting in our farmers contributing around $50 billion to New Zealand’s economy each year.

Even through some tough times last year, we had some great achievements. The year ahead will continue to be dynamic. Front and centre are the immediate challenges on farm. Profitability is challenged in the face of farm working expense increases of around $1 per kg of milksolids just last season alone.

The milk price has been good for a few years, and dairy’s debt repayment has tracked well – decreasing by $5.2 billion from 2018 to 2022, which is great news.

No one knows with absolute certainty where the milk price will land, but we know our best operators begin thinking about how they will manage a drop and cut the costs before they actually need to.

In the longer term we continue to face the drive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Alongside farm systems support, DairyNZ is researching technologies to support farms to reduce emissions. Off-the-shelf tech needs research in NZ conditions – our free-range system is too different to other countries. So, we turn to innovation – something we know well.

Getting policies right will also ensure our thriving farming sector continues – and, therefore, NZ thrives too.

DairyNZ advocates hard for solutions that achieve the right outcomes. Our advocacy is always informed by science, whether it’s best-practice animal care in the Dairy Cattle Code of Welfare, water quality or climate change.

To support key issues on the minds of farmers, DairyNZ will continue to roll out targeted initiatives this year.

Our GoDairy campaign will continue, encouraging young Kiwis to consider a dairy career and connecting them to the latest dairy farm vacancies.

This will help contribute to our current workforce needs and attract more people on farm.

We are also prioritising our public audience through our latest campaign, Here for the Long Game. This long-term initiative will look to continue growing trust and pride in dairy, sharing dairy farmers’ long-term commitment to a better future for NZ.

We’re also on a mission to better connect with dairy farmers. As part of that, DairyNZ is broadening the range of support and events we offer, to be relevant to the needs of our farmers.

This support is particularly geared at helping farmers manage the years ahead and the regulatory changes coming through.

I know the past few years have been tough, but I’m proud of everything that farmers and DairyNZ have achieved by working together, and I look forward to continuing this year. n

DairyNZ chief executive Dr Tim Mackle says New Zealand farmers are facing some challenges on farm but their resilience will see them through the hard times.

“We are world leaders thanks to decades of expertise on farm and because, frankly, Kiwi farmers are incredibly hard working.”