increase font size
Dairy Women's Network chief executive Zelda de Villiers.
If you think milk price or weather are dairy farmers’ biggest concerns, think again – it’s people.
That is what a survey by Dairy Women's Network (DWN) has revealed. Chief executive Zelda de Villiers says the results were “quite surprising” and provided a clearer picture about what is important to dairy farmers. ‘What is Important’ was the theme of the recent DWN annual meeting where the survey results were presented.
“When farmers were asked about the difficulties they faced on farm, issues like financial, weather or milk price, none of those things made the top deck of challenges,” de Villiers told Dairy News.
“The first group of challenges were people: having quality staff, onfarm communication, managing staff, time to work on their business and not in their business and management.
“People were very much the biggest challenges: finding the right staff, managing staff, keeping staff and ensuring they are managed in a professional way.”
DWN ran an online survey of 250 people then did face-to-face interviews with a range of dairy women and men in various regions and career stages. Trained researchers did the in-depth interviews with 15 participants onfarm, surveying owners, sharemilkers, contractors and employees.
After people, the next group of concerns was public perception and portrayal. “As a group they feel very much in the limelight right now. And it is not a pleasant place to be,” de Villiers says.
The next group of concerns was about more compliance and the administration and paperwork that entails.
“Those were the challenges. Then when we asked them why they are farming they said animals and being outside were number-one.
“Number-two and three were freedom of choice, freedom of their destiny,” including being boss of their own destiny, building their own business and family/life balance,” de Villiers says.
“And an absolute passion for the dairy industry is why they farm.”
Farmers living and working onfarm and valuing the animals, the outdoors and being masters of their own destiny, de Villiers says you can understand why the current spotlight on farming “becomes really personal”.
The 2025 Fonterra Dairy Woman of the Year, Jo Sheridan, has paid tribute to women who apart from their farming connections are making contributions to their local schools and communities.
Waikato farmer, and Owl Farm demonstration manager, Jo Sheridan is the 2025 Fonterra Dairy Woman of the Year.
Investing in your people and in your own leadership skills is the path to success for a farming business, says economist Shamubeel Eaqub.
Dairy Women’s Network (DWN) has announced real estate company Bayleys will be the naming partner for its 2025 conference.
Dairy Women's Network (DWN) is partnering with two agribusinesses to deliver better management tools for its members.
Two butcheries have claimed victory at the 100% New Zealand Bacon & Ham Awards for 2025.
A Taupiri farming company has been convicted and fined $52,500 in the Hamilton District Court for the unlawful discharge of dairy effluent into the environment.
The Climate Change Commission’s 2025 emissions reduction monitoring report reveals steady progress on the reduction of New Zealand’s climate pollution.
Another milestone has been reached in the fight against Mycoplasma bovis with the compensation assistance service being wound up after helping more than 1300 farmers.
The Government’s directive for state farmer Landcorp Farming (trading as Pamu) to lifts its performance is yielding results.
The move to bring bovine TB testing in-house at Ospri officially started this month, as a team of 37 skilled and experienced technicians begin work with the disease eradication agency.
