Dairy farming in New Zealand

Dairy farming in New Zealand began from small beginnings during the early days of colonisation by Europeans. The income from dairy farming is now a major part of the New Zealand economy, becoming an NZ$11 billion industry by 2010.

History

In the dairy industry, dairy co-operatives have long been the main organisational structure. The first dairy co-operative was established in Otago in 1871. By 1920, there were 600 dairy processing factories of which about 85% were owned by co-operatives.^[1] In the 1930s there were around 500 co-operatives^[2] but after World War II, improved transportation, processing technologies and energy systems led to a trend of consolidation where the co-operatives merged and became larger and fewer in number.^[3] By the late 1990s, there were four co-operatives: the Waikato-based New Zealand Dairy Group, the Taranaki-based Kiwi Co-operative Dairies, Westland Milk Products and Tatua Co-operative Dairy Company.^[1]

Production

Dairy export volumes for year ended 31 March 2007^[4]

Product	Volume (tonnes)
Whole milk powder	682,000
Butter	420,000
Skim milk powder	368,000
Cheese	303,000
Ingredients	209,000
Casein	206,000
Other products	142,000

New Zealand is the world's eighth largest milk producer, with about 2.2% of world production.^[4] Total production was 1.3 billion kg of milk solids, and NZ$8.38 billion of dairy products were exported in the year ending 30 September 2007.^[5][6]

Traditional dairy production areas are the wetter areas of the country: Waikato, Taranaki, Southland, Northland, Horowhenua, Manawatu and Westland. Before the advent of refrigerated shipping in the 1880s, dairy production was entirely for local consumption, with butter and cheese usually being produced on the farm, with the surplus being sold to the community via the local store. Small dairy factories began to be established in the 1880s, and soon there was one in almost every village in dairying regions. Production began to be centralised in the second half of the 20th century, with facilities such as the Fonterra plants at Whareora (near Hawera), Te Rapa, Edendale and Timaru being the four largest in the Southern Hemisphere. Edendale is also currently the largest dairy factory in the world by milk intake.

Fonterra is the largest processor of milk in New Zealand. It processes 94.8 percent of all milk solids from dairy farms.^[5] Other large dairy companies are Tatua Co-operative Dairy Company, Westland Milk Products and Synlait.

There are approximately 4.2 million dairy milking cows in New Zealand, and 5.26 million dairy cattle in total at 30 June 2007, an increase from 3 million in 1982.^[7] In mid-2005, there were 12,786 dairy farms, with a total area of 2.1 million hectares.^[5]

Environmental impacts

Dairy farming is being increasingly held to account for the environmental impacts of the industry. Fish and Game started the "dirty dairying" campaign to highlight the effect of dairying on water quality. As a response to the campaign the Dairying and Clean Streams Accord was established in an attempt to reduce the level of water pollution. The family owned Crafar Farms have borne the brunt of the prosecutions and have been labelled the "poster boys for dirty dairying" by Environment Waikato's regulatory committee chairman Ian Balme.^[8]

See also

• Agriculture in New Zealand
• Sharemilking
• Crafar Farms

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Stringleman, Hugh; Scrimgeour, Frank (2009-03-01). Dairying and dairy products - Co-operatives and centralisation. Ministry for Culture and Heritage / Te Manatu Taonga. ISBN 978-0-478-18451-8. http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/dairying-and-dairy-products/3. Retrieved 2010-10-14. 
2. ^ Philpott, H.G. (1937). A History of the New Zealand Dairy Industry: 1840-1935. Wellington: Government Printer.
3. ^ Ward, A.H. (1975). A Command of Cooperatives. Wellington: The New Zealand Dairy Board.
4. ^ ^{a b} "Situation and outlook for New Zealand agriculture and forestry (August 2007)". Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. 2008-08. http://www.maf.govt.nz/mafnet/rural-nz/statistics-and-forecasts/sonzaf/2007/page-18.htm. Retrieved 2009-04-02. ^{[dead link]}
5. ^ ^{a b c} New Zealand Official Yearbook, 2008, p 358
6. ^ New Zealand Official Yearbook, 2008, pp 360-61
7. ^ New Zealand Official Yearbook, 2008, p 359
8. ^ Leaman, Aaron; Neems, Jeff (2009-08-29). "Acting 'too late' costs farmers $90k". Waikato Times (Fairfax Media Ltd). http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/2813417/Acting-too-late-costs-farmers-90k. Retrieved 2010-05-31. 

Further reading

• "New Zealand dairy industry". newzealand.com. June 2010. http://business.newzealand.com/common/files/Dairy-industry-in-New-Zealand.pdf. Retrieved 25 August 2010. 
• Oram, Rod (14 November 2010). "Visions of greener pastures". Sunday Star Times. http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/4343414/Visions-of-greener-pastures. 

External links

• Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand (1966) - Dairy farming
• Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry - The New Zealand Dairy Industry
• DairyNZ - an industry organisation
• South Island Dairying Development Centre - a partnership of six organisations set up to promote dairying in the South Island
• godairy.co.nz - an industry promotional website