Wealth creation: building equity in the dairy industry

Abstract

The New Zealand dairy industry in New Zealand is renowned for its ability to offer a wonderful career path for people to grow and progress through the industry. It is evident that there are plenty of success stories where people have built a sustainable future and lifestyle - where they have developed both on-farm and business knowledge and skills. . People who have desire and hunger can be successful, working their way through the steps of farm staff to farm ownership and in many cases to become owners of multiple farms. The challenges that we face today, to ensure that dairy farming is sustainable and attractive in the future, is different than the challenges faced in the last 30 years, including high land prices, labour issues, limited opportunities, increased volatility. If you are an ambitious, young, new entrant to the dairy industry I hope that the contents of this report will give you the enthusiasm to take practical steps to ensure a viable future. The opportunities are there, but do not expect the solutions to be the same as 20 years ago because the barriers are different. Think about today’s issues needing today’s solutions not today’s issues being answered by yesterday’s solutions.