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DairyNZ chair Tracy Brown
Over 300 farmers and rural professionals have gathered in Hamilton for the first DairyNZ Farmers Forum for this year.
Opening the event, DairyNZ chair Tracy Brown says at events like the Farmers Forum in New Zealand, dairy farmers have charted their own path forward.
“Today we stand here, many of us, as dairy farmers, who are also businesspeople, soil scientists, agronomists, technologists, economists, geneticists, vets. We know we must keep learning but also rely on prior knowledge.
“We must do our analysis but also trust our gut.”
Brown says throughout the ages New Zealand dairy farmers have quietly built not just enormous skillsets to optimise their individual operation, but they have built industry-good assets that everyone relies upon today.
“The highest standards of animal welfare in the world are an asset to us all, as are the strides we make each day in environmental performance while maintaining business viability.
“We operate systems that are among the most emissions-efficient on the globe.
“The lowest cost producers of dairy because we are pasture fed – with a grass to glass efficiency story like no other.
“We have always created and adopted new tools, new solutions, had new ideas and we have always ensured this all works in the paddock, not just on paper.”
Two more Farmers Forum will be held in the South Island.
DairyNZ says Waikato farmers need certainty on Plan Change 1, but they say that certainty must be matched with practical, workable rules and a clear transition that doesn't get ahead of the new resource management system currently under review.
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Analysis of decades of research has revealed the implementation of good farming practices plays a critical role in reducing nutrient losses to improve freshwater outcomes.
New Zealand dairy farmers are set to be the first in the world to receive access to a new digital physical milk pricing tool that enables them to fix the price for their physical milk.
State farmer Pāmu is opening its farm gates this summer in an effort to give the rural sector the opportunity to see how large-scale, multi-system farming is delivering productivity and profitability across New Zealand.
A five-year study has found that the cost of reducing emissions without technology may be significant and unsustainable for Northland dairy farmers.
DairyNZ says Waikato farmers need certainty on Plan Change 1, but they say that certainty must be matched with practical, workable rules and a clear transition that doesn't get ahead of the new resource management system currently under review.
While the Government has moved quickly to make commercial hauliers' lot easier during the current fuel crisis, they appear to be stuck in the creep box when it comes to the agricultural industry.
Waikato farmers have been told that the Government’s new planning system legislation and the region’s Plan Change 1 (PC1) “won’t mesh together very well”.
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