August DSF member profile: DairyNZ

For our August DSF member profile, we invited DairyNZ’s Chief Science and Innovation Officer, David Burger, and General Manager Strategy & Commercial Partnerships, Dave Maslen to provide further insights into the organization and its sustainability focus.

About DairyNZ

DairyNZ is the science-led, independent organisation supporting New Zealand’s 10,500 dairy farmers through research, innovation, extension and advocacy. We invest in programmes that help farmers run profitable, sustainable businesses, and have developed nearly 900 practical tools and resources designed to support farmers to thrive. Backed by decades of science and supporting practice change, we turn world-class science, and farm system expertise into practical solutions for farmers, to enable and support informed decision-making. Working alongside research partners, we help tackle long-term challenges and create opportunities for a positive future for New Zealand dairy farming.

Geographically, where do you operate?

Our head office is in Hamilton, Waikato (in the North Island of New Zealand) but we operate nationwide with multiple offices and teams in across New Zealand. (Northland, Bay of Plenty, Taranaki, Lower North Island, Wellington, Canterbury/North Otago and Southland/South Otago). Of note, New Zealand’s dairy farms operate differently to many of their international counterparts. Our pasture-based system (where cows graze outside year-round rather than being housed) and our focus on homegrown feed gives us a natural cost advantage.

What’s the sustainability focus for DairyNZ in the next 12 months?
Over the next 12 months, DairyNZ’s sustainability focus is mainly about lifting on-farm efficiency while reducing environmental footprint and making sure the rules and tools farmers are facing are practical and workable.

• Responsible Dairy Programme: DairyNZ is leading this multi-year, multi-sector partnership programme to help farmers adopt proven and emerging practices/technology that deliver efficiency gains and a reduced environmental footprint. The programme’s environmental goals include reducing nitrogen leaching per hectare by 20%, lifting riparian planting (increasing the number of trees, shrubs and native plants grown alongside watercourses) by 60%, and increasing protected wetland areas by 50%.
• Climate change (emissions focus on practical on-farm progress): DairyNZ’s work includes advocacy for fair, scientifically valid outcomes in agricultural emissions policy, researching on-farm solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and extension/engagement to help farmers manage emissions on-farm.
• Freshwater and wider sustainability settings: A big part of DairyNZ’s “make it workable on farm” sustainability effort is our advocacy focus on our government’s policy settings regarding resource management, with a focus on refining freshwater policy, and climate targets.

Can you tell us about a sustainability initiative that has delivered tangible results?

Over the past year the percentage of farmers with farm environment plans rose to 97% (up 15.5%). These plans provide a blueprint for farmers to implement sustainability focused actions on farm. Of course, improving freshwater quality is a long game and it’s not always clear for farmers if their plans and actions make a difference. DairyNZ has been able to provide proof that they are.

Recent research led by DairyNZ, the Bioeconomy Science Institute and Lincoln University analysed two decades of data and confirmed that good farming practices are making a measurable difference to freshwater outcomes, which includes not just water quality but also ecosystem and freshwater health. The research found a clear link between the uptake of practices such as improved fertiliser management, better effluent systems, reduced soil cultivation and improved irrigation management, and lower nutrient and contaminant losses from land to water.

The findings also showed these environmental gains were achieved without negatively impacting production, demonstrating that strong environmental performance and productive dairy farming can go hand in hand.

For DairyNZ, the results provide clear evidence that farmers’ long-term commitment to environmental stewardship is delivering real-world outcomes. They also reinforce the value of combining robust science with practical on-farm action to achieve continuous improvement for both farming businesses and the environment.

Download the DairyNZ good farming practices guide for environmental management in dairy farm systems.