New associate director for DairyNZ
After 20 years of milking cows, Northland farmer Greg Collins is ready to step into the governance side of dairy.
A new 3D internet resource which tells the economic story of New Zealand dairy will be launched by DairyNZ shortly.
It is likely to go live on the www.dairyatwork.co.nz website in the next week or two.
DairyNZ brand marketing manager Andrew Fraser outlined the initiative to international journalists at a recent conference in Hamilton.
"We thought 'let's see if we can tell our economic story in dairying and make it a good visual experience that we can share on line'.
"We created a data visualisation tool... It has an image of the world which shows where all our exports go. We can click on, for instance, Bahrain, or any country we export to, and it comes up with all the details of our dairy exports, history, percentage or our exports, what we export there, etc.
"Because you've got the picture and the words it brings the story to life. It is also a bit of a geography lesson.
"We have created a way of telling that dairy export story that is a lot more visual than giving someone a sheet of paper and tables."
It also tells the story of dairy farming in NZ with, for instance, a breakdown of the herds and production for each region.
"We have used leading-edge data visualisation tools to help tell our dairy story."
Dairy 3D will be used as an education tool. Teachers are difficult to reach because they are so busy, says Fraser.
"So if you've got something that's cool and engaging, it is a lot easier for them to say 'ok I'll teach that, because that resource is going to make it easier to teach this topic'."
They aimed for broad reach but targeted it at school children to get the traffic to the site. Just putting up a web resource is not enough to drive traffic there.
"To get enduring value from our investment we will be developing educational resources which present the website as where they need to go to find the information."
The target is at first the 13-15 age group but more resources will be developed older children.
Teachers can use 3D Dairy in various subjects, eg economics and maths. For instance they could use the figures as calculation tools.
The site will be component of DairyNZ's education programme which seeks to improve public perception and increase the understanding of dairy.
Fraser says NZ dairy farmers care about public perceptions for several reasons.
Public policy makers are influenced by public opinion so it is important they hear the full story rather than just the vocal minority. They want a positive image for the products and dairy farmers want to be good community citizens.
"It's the communication challenge we have... dairying is a big part of our economy but people don't connect their standard of living to our export industries," he said.
Urban people are too busy with their lives to think about farming. But if their children talk about it through what they are learning at school, and the next generation knows something of the importance of dairy to the economy, perceptions and understanding will broaden.
Recent rain has offered respite for some from the ongoing drought.
New Zealand's TBfree programme has made great progress in reducing the impact of the disease on livestock herds, but there’s still a long way to go, according to Beef+Lamb NZ.
With much of the North Island experiencing drought this summer and climate change projected to bring drier and hotter conditions, securing New Zealand’s freshwater resilience is vital, according to state-owned GNS Science.
OPINION: Otago farmer and NZ First MP Mark Patterson is humble about the role that he’s played in mandating government agencies to use wool wherever possible in new and refurbished buildings.
For Wonky Box co-founder Angus Simms, the decision to open the service to those in rural areas is a personal one.
The golden age of orcharding in West Auckland was recently celebrated at the launch of a book which tells the story of its rise, then retreat in the face of industry change and urban expansion.
OPINION: The appendage swinging contest between the US and China continues, with China hitting back with a new rate of…
OPINION: The irony of President Trump’s tariff obsession is that the worst damage may be done to his own people.