Nick Tait, Senior partnership lead

Details

Role

Senior Partnership Lead

Regions

Upper North Island, Lower North Island, Upper South Island, Lower South Island

Nick Tait sees DairyNZ’s specialists as the bridge between research and extension, providing clarity, consistency, and opportunity for farmer information through many different channels.

Nick leads DairyNZ’s Business-to-Business work area, working formally and informally with dairy sector partners to deliver value for farmers, and identifying opportunities to partner across the sector.

“I focus mainly on forming relationships and agreements within our sector to provide consistency and avoid duplication,” explains Nick. “I also get involved in providing input into things like farm system capability and upskilling, or sustainable banking requirements.”

With a Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of Science from Lincoln University, Nick’s entire working life has been in dairy. “I’ve been a contract milker on a large farm, a developer, an extension specialist, and a lead advisor in my roles at DairyNZ.”

So it’s no surprise, then, that Nick gets himself on-farm and in front of farmers as much as possible.

“Dairy farming’s always been a collaborative industry. As customers, organisations, and local and Central government requirements continue to increase, it’s vital DairyNZ supports farmers to understand and decipher what that means for them.

DairyNZ’s support includes extension, research, resources and tools, aimed at helping farmers to make informed choices and decisions on how to address those requirements.

“Collaborative support for farmers is important too, from both the customer and milk supply perspective, through to the profitability perspective from the banking sector and how that relates to farm systems.”

Nick says working with both farmers and scientists also helps blend perspectives from theory to practicality.

“That needs to be balanced so the latest research can be brought to life, and delivered and communicated in a practical sense. DairyNZ’s advice and support is always evidence-based, but it needs to be easy for farmers to understand and implement.”

Nick loves hearing back from farmers about how DairyNZ’s support has made a difference to them.

“When I hear farmers talking about the reduction of duplication, increase in consistency, and the value of sector partners working together, that’s so rewarding for me.”