Investment
The 'Strategic Framework for Dairy Farming's Future' was developed in 2003/04 to guide the industry's investment of the Milksolids Levy out to the year 2015.
This long-term strategic plan was developed after wide consultation with dairy farmers, industry providers and strategic partners. This included a survey of 5000 farmers to identify high priority areas for investment.
The plan outlines a number of objectives and targets to be achieved within a timeframe of 10 years. Ultimately, the goal of the dairy industry strategy is to increase dairy farmer profit and create wealth for the New Zealand economy, though achieving by 2015:
- 50% total productivity gain (4% per year) – historical target now being reviewed to reflect an increase in profitability due to productivity gain
- Continued "freedom to operate" – balancing milksolids growth and productivity goals with economic, environmental and animal welfare consideration.
Based on the plan, DairyNZ has established a number of programmes of work which have been developed within three broad categories. They are:
- Productivity – covering the major programmes of feed, animals and farm systems
- Sustainability – covering environmental management, biosecurity (eg Tb eradication) and animal welfare
- People and business – covering business planning and systems, and human resources capability.
These programmes of work have been guiding our investment in research, development and extension activities. An analysis of the benefits shows that to date these activities have made a significant contribution to enhancing the profitability, sustainability and competitiveness of our industry, and have had a positive impact on farmers' bottom line and the efficiency of their business.
