Dairy pathways survey key to New Zealand's prosperity

With 11,735 dairy farming businesses the basis for one quarter of New Zealand’s merchandise exports, Federated Farmers has started surveying its members about progression and succession within New Zealand dairy farming.

“As the New Zealand dairy industry continues to grow, it’s vital that we’ve got the right structures in place to give people a clear future,” says Ciarán Tully, Federated Farmers Sharemilkers chairperson.

“Out of New Zealand’s 11,735 dairy farming businesses, 4,058, or 35 percent, are sharemilkers. You can say sharemilking has been the mainstay for career progression within the entire dairy industry.

“It’s about having positive pathways so that we can not only keep but build the capability of New Zealand dairy farming. Federated Farmers appreciates the support of DairyNZ in what is a very important research project for our industry.

“We’ve sent a survey out to all of our members being conducted for us by agricultural consultancy, AgFirst. Realistically, we want the biggest possible response so the survey can also be accessed at www.fedfarm.org.nz/pathways.

“We are extremely interested in the views of sharemilkers, contract milkers and those involved in farm equity partnerships. We’re also keen to hear from farm owners who operate with sharemilkers or contract milkers too.

“Sharemilking has provided a means to build equity that for a number of farmers has led to farm ownership. There are however a range of new structures in place, such as equity partnerships.

“We’re hoping the project will help identify both key success factors as well as the key issues facing the sharemilking sector of the dairy industry.

“We’re hopeful that we can then generate viable progression paths within the New Zealand dairy industry. A key result of this will also be effective farm succession.

“I don’t wish to dramatise things, but it’s fair to say that a large chunk of New Zealand’s prosperity hinges on us getting these progression and succession pathways right,” Mr Tully concluded.

The Federated Farmers survey, Viable progression paths for succession in the dairy industry, can be accessed at www.fedfarm.org.nz/pathways.