Opinion divided
OPINION: Boutique milk company Lewis Road Creamery’s latest offering to mark Matariki is unfairly facing heat from certain quarters of Māoridom, who are opposed to any commercialisation of all things Māori.
New Zealand's dairy industry has many success stories; hard work, R&D and sacrifice have paid off for innovators and entrepreneurs.
This month the industry celebrates two such stories: the development of a cow breed that will produce more milk in tropical climates, and organic chocolate milk that is taking the domestic market by storm.
Dairy Solutionz Ltd, Hamilton, has led an expert genetics team to develop a cow that thrives in lower-altitude tropical climates and achieves high milk production under heat stress. Soon these cows will be milked on large-scale farms in the US, Colombia and Ecuador.
Earlier this year, research by Serdal Dikmen and the University of Florida pointed to 2L/day improved milk yield per animal through better heat tolerance. Multiply this increase over a large or national herd and the end result is a whopper.
Since 2007 Dairy Solutionz has worked with international partners to design and integrate best-of-breed technologies into its large-scale offshore pastoral farms. Their hard work is paying off.
For the small dairy company Lewis Road Creamery it took only two years to hit the sweet spot. Its fresh chocolate milk is said to be flying off the shelves in supermarkets and boutique stores. Its key ingredients are organic milk and Whittakers chocolate.
Consumer demand is phenomenal. This small company works 24/7 pumping out the product, each week consuming 3000kg of Whittaker’s five roll-refined creamy milk chocolate and 24,000L of milk.
Security guards are monitoring supermarket fridges containing the product and customers are queueing to buy it.
One Auckland supermarket operator says his stocks have run out every day since it was launched: 500 bottles delivered each morning were selling out within 90 minutes.
He’s immensely surprised, says the retailer. “We’ve had some pretty good product launches in the past but this takes the cake.”
Since dairy is New Zealand’s top industry it needs continuing innovation along the whole value chain to anchor it, and the New Zealand economy, in position.
Dairy Solutionz and Lewis Road Creamery are two shining examples of this.
South Waikato farm manager Ben Purua’s amazing transformation from gang life to milking cows was rewarded with the Ahuwhenua Young Maori Farmer award last night.
Bankers have been making record profits in the last few years, but those aren’t the only records they’ve been breaking, says Federated Farmers vice president Richard McIntyre.
The 2023-24 season has been a roller coaster ride for Waikato dairy farmers, according to Federated Farmers dairy section chair, Mathew Zonderop.
Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) director general Ray Smith says job cuts announced this morning will not impact the way the Ministry is organised or merge business units.
Scales Corporation is acquiring a number of orchard assets from Bostock Group.
Family and solidarity shone through at the 75 years of Ferdon sale in Otorohanga last month.
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