- New Zealand’s government and dairy industry have committed NZD45.85 million to a seven-year programme called Responsible Dairy, aiming to improve productivity and sustainability in the sector.
- The initiative is co-funded by the Ministry for Primary Industries, DairyNZ, and a coalition of partners from science, farming, finance, technology, and government.
- Responsible Dairy will focus on accelerating innovation, adopting new technologies and practices, and delivering environmental and productivity gains more efficiently to remain globally competitive.
The government announced a major investment in the dairy sector on 10 June as part of its broader Land Use Flexibility package.
The dairy-specific initiative, Responsible Dairy, is a seven-year co-funded programme that will be led by industry body DairyNZ on behalf of the wider dairy sector.
The total programme funding amounts to NZD45.85m (USD26.57m) over seven years, with the Ministry for Primary Industries’ (MPI) Primary Sector Growth Fund contributing NZD18.34m (USD10.63m)
Up to NZD19.73m (USD11.44m) will be drawn from the existing DairyNZ levy, and the remainder comprises in-kind or cash contributions from a coalition of partners.
Dairy’s high stakes
This programme will support a sector that has major economic significance to the country.
“The New Zealand dairy sector is a cornerstone of the national economy, contributing significantly to exports, employment and regional development. In the year to 30 June 2025, New Zealand exported a record NZD27.15 billion of dairy products. Dairy now generates more than one in every four dollars of New Zealand’s foreign exchange receipts from goods and services exports and employs over 55,000 people,” said DairyNZ CEO Campbell Parker.
Despite this scale, Parker highlighted that the dairy sector has stagnated.
“Since around 2015, the dairy sector has reached a productivity plateau. Responsible Dairy will build resilience and value in the dairy sector by helping lift all farmers to the next level of productivity, efficiency and sustainability within their individual farming businesses, while continuing to drive further environmental gains across the sector,” he said.
At the same time, global competition has intensified, Parker warned.
“Our global competitors see the same opportunity as we do. They are innovating and adapting at an incredible rate, and by comparison, we may not have challenged ourselves as hard as we could have as a sector.”
Parker stressed the importance of accelerating innovation, scaling up the adoption of new practices and technologies, and delivering environmental and productivity gains more efficiently.
“Arguably, dairy farmers have done more to lift standards than any other sector. We’ve spent years investing in environmental improvements, better infrastructure, planting, effluent management, genetics and more resilient farm systems. That progress provides a strong foundation for the next phase of change. But standing still is not an option.”
Parker added that co-investment from both government and industry was pivotal.
“It is expected to speed up the rate at which the sector adopts transformative technologies, getting them into active use years earlier than might otherwise be the case, to keep New Zealand dairy globally competitive,” he said.
“To protect value and stay ahead of global competition, our challenge is to grow and evolve the sector in ways that strengthen environmental outcomes and social licence, while enhancing the provenance and sustainability attributes that underpin the premiums high-value customers and consumers are willing to pay for New Zealand milk,” he added.
Targets: growth, environment, profitability
Responsible Dairy was designed to build resilience and long-term value in the sector. The programme will use science-led innovation and coordinated action and put practical tools into the hands of farmers to improve the resilience and economic performance of the sector.
In the first two years, the programme will establish a national network of 35 to 40 partner farms to showcase low-footprint, high-productivity farming systems.
It will also evaluate and test new and near-to-market technologies and nature-based solutions and develop a national blueprint for a resilient dairy sector integrating spatial mapping, economic modelling and climate resilience analysis.
“The reality is that future value growth will look different from the past. There will be an abundance of opportunities for dairy systems that are supported by modern infrastructure, better environmental management, improved genetics and emerging technologies,” Parker said.
“Responsible Dairy will give farmers options — the tools and information they can choose from to improve efficiency, productivity and environmental outcomes.”
By 2050, Responsible Dairy is expected to deliver approximately 20 per cent growth in milksolids from existing farms and land-use change, a 20 per cent reduction in nitrogen leaching per hectare, and a 13 per cent increase in sector profitability.
Environmental targets include a 60 per cent increase in riparian planting and a 50 per cent increase in protected wetland areas, with the stated ambition of doubling nature on farms.
The programme is backed by a broad coalition spanning science, farming, finance, technology, fertiliser and government.
Partners include Craigmore Sustainables, Dairy Holdings, Pāmu, the Fertiliser Association of New Zealand, Rabobank, Halter, and Gallagher. Scientific expertise will be provided by Bioeconomy Science Institute Maiangi Taiao and Earth Sciences New Zealand.
