Inside the Southland Dairy Farm Where Robots and Pasture Work Together
In Dacre, near Invercargill in New Zealand’s South Island, Bruce Dinnington is running a dairy operation unlike any other.
Despite broader agricultural machinery sales showing a downward trend, Lely closed out 2025 with an 18% increase in revenue, for the first time topping €1 billion, compared to the €857 result in 2024, said to be driven by higher milk prices.
Higher global milk prices have led to a financially healthy year for dairy farmers in general, giving them the confidence to invest in robotics and data.
“The 2025 result is better than expected and we are proud of hitting one billion sales,” says Andre van Troost, CEO of Lely.
During the 2025 year, the company invested 8% of turnover in R&D, while also launching four new products, including Vector Next, Astronaut A5 Next, Astronaut Max and Hub.
While the company has begun 2026 with a healthy order book, the Lely CEO added that 2026 could be more challenging, partly due to the significant over supply, resulting in a lower milk price, ongoing geopolitical tension and increasing uncertainties over silicon chip deliveries.
“The latter might not impact our business in the first half of this year; however, we cannot foresee what will happen towards the second half of the year,” adds van Troost.
Looking ahead, Lely notes that farmers continue to face stricter laws and regulations, a growing demand for transparency, and an increased focus on sustainability. They suggest that innovation, robotisation and digitalisation, will be increasingly adopted by farmers to be able to produce sustainable and nutritious dairy products.
