increase font size
Many farmers will struggle to meet new cooling regulations
FEDERATED FARMERS dairy president Andrew Hoggard says many farmers will struggle to meet the milk cooling regulations proposed by MPI.
For farmers in some regions – like Bay of Plenty and Northland – buying extra equipment to cool water or milk may not be the solution, he says. Electricity supply may be an issue.
The question is whether some farmers will be in a position to take extra powerlines to their milking sheds.
“A good number of farmers will struggle to meet those targets,” Hoggard told Dairy News. “We are talking about big capital expenses in some cases – buying coolers, boosting transformers and increasing power lines.”
Hoggard is spending $45,000 on a new milk cooler from refrigeration company Snapchill. This will recover heat produced during the milk chilling process, using it to heat water.
Fonterra food safety technical adviser Tim Johnstone last month told farmers at a Smaller Milk and Supply Herds (SMASH) field day that the regulations aim to satisfy international markets. “That’s the big one essentially driving the new regulations.”
New Zealand’s rules for raw milk storage are not as stringent as those of its major trading partners China, Russia, Australia and the EU; standards are on par with the US.
Johnstone says during audits of New Zealand farms, overseas regulators questioned why our milk cooling is out of line with the rest of the world. “We’ve been getting away with… arguing that our milk quality is above everyone else’s.”
Paul Donderwinkel, director of Matamata refrigeration company Centigrade, says there won’t be a “one-size-fits-all” solution; rather, daily milk volume on each farm will determine the cost, “on average $5000-$100,000,” he said.
Corporate farmers are more amenable to the new rules than are family farmers, the latter being “a bit more reluctant to embrace the proposed regulations”.
New Zealand's pest problem has reached crisis point, according to Federated Farmers' second National Pests Survey, which shows farmers are spending more money and effort on control — yet pest numbers keep climbing faster than they were two years ago.
Despite political shenanigans in Wellington, farmers are confident that Resource Management Act (RMA) reforms will get over the line in this term of Parliament.
The Government has announced it will pause key parts of Waikato Plan Change 1 (PC1) in a decision that is set to give Waikato farmers a reprieve from new consenting and farm-planning requirements while the wider resource management system is overhauled.
OPINION: As the general election approaches, political parties are churning out policies in the hope of attracting more votes.
Federated Farmers president Colin Hurst and his family raised a glass of milk last week to toast the start of a new addition to their farming operation at Makihihi, south of Timaru.
An Auckland gelato shop and an established New Zealand ice cream maker have both been named Supreme Champions at the NZ Ice Cream & Gelato Awards 2026.
As the cost-of-living crisis continues to put pressure on household grocery budgets, new figures show pork remains one of the most affordable fresh meat options for New Zealand families.
OPINION: In politics, credibility is and should be big. It must surely rank higher than charisma, which is quite trite and superficial. Yet, voters nowadays are often wooed and influenced by how someone looks or talks at a superficial level. TV plays a huge role in this.
Farmers can spend less time on paperwork, thanks to a new data sharing agreement between DairyNZ’s DairyBase and LIC’s MINDA software.
Kaikōura families affected by July's severe storm have found a practical solution to a problem that's kept some children away from regular schooling for weeks: a washed-out section of Inland Kaikōura Road, which has stopped the local school bus from running its usual route.
Rural New Zealand is welcoming the Government’s recent package of rural healthcare initiatives.
OPINION: After hogging the media limelight for telling a NZ Chinese MP to "go back home", Winston Peters has decided…
OPINION: With fuel prices soaring, one would have expected most farmers to be reclaiming excise duty on petrol.
