Organic Dairying

The opportunity for New Zealand to take advantage of the export market for organic dairy products is significant.

New Zealand exports of organic dairy products in 2007 were $6.9m, which is a relatively small share of the global organic dairy market. Fonterra has secured organic export markets and needs a significant increase in organic milk production.

The challenge for the organic dairy sector is to:

grow the organic dairy network
lift the production of individual farms
increase innovation capacity of the sector
make sustainable organic dairy production methods an attractive proposition to other dairy farmers.

Grow Organic Dairy Project

This project aims to research successful organic management practices that contribute the most to improved organic dairy production, as part of the drive to grow the organic dairy sector.

A multi-disciplinary team of organic dairy producers and scientists from Massey University are working together on four key areas: animal health, pasture management, soils and soil fertility and farm management. Previously animal health sheets on mastitis, bloat and lameness have been released, containing successful organic management practices, including background information, prevention measures, and treatment options, as well as farmer experiences.

This project is funded by DairyNZ and the Sustainable Farming Fund.