OZ out to attract NZ dairy farmers

They want to rejuvenate the Tasmanian and Victorian dairy industries and inject new impetus into productivity.

They are dangling the carrot of a cheaper path to dairy farm ownership – about one third the cost of New Zealand, claims Andrew Radford, a director of ATR accountancy and owner of two Tasmanian dairy farms. He and two Rabobank rural managers, from Tasmania and Victoria, Rabobank senior dairy analyst Michael Harvey, and another investment specialist, were delivering the message at four bank-organised seminars around the country last week.

They want Kiwi talent to cross the ditch to help provide "the next wave of farmers to take the industry up another notch," says Leigh Barker, a Rabobank rural manager in Devonport branch, Tasmania.

They think New Zealand farmers and workers will bring new ideas, new competition and new innovation. "In the late 1990s to 2000s when the first wave of New Zealanders came, they contributed to growing the industry to a new level," says Barker. "That contribution can come again with the capacity available."

With big investment in processing plant in Tasmania in recent years, there's an annual 335 million litres extra capacity in Tasmania alone, Barker says. "If you go over there and buy a farm, all processors will turn up on that farm and try to grab you. They need to fill that stainless steel," says Radford.

"There's a lot of spare capacity that can be generated by new blood." – by Pam Tipa

See full story, p3, Dairy News, March 23