During that month dairy farmers, including sharemilkers and dairy farm leaseholders, can cast a vote to retain the milksolids levy payment to DairyNZ, which is currently 3.6c/kg milksolids (MS).
The New Zealand dairy industry was at the most critical stage of its history since the formation of Fonterra in 2001, with farmers challenged to remain profitable while meeting environmental compliance, Mackle said. Factors like soil type and catchment area could affect profit and farm value in the future. Farmers in the Rotorua and Horizons catchments were already dealing with this fallout and DairyNZ had to continue with science and extension work to help farmers adjust and remain profitable.
“We are still getting our heads around it,” he said.
“That’s one of the biggest reasons why this levy has got to be kept going, quite frankly, because there is a lot of work to be done.”
The National Policy for Freshwater was one example that would unfold at regional council level during the next few years, putting pressure on farmers.
“A lot of these plans are notifiable in 2015. There is a lot of heavy lifting to do in the next two years to get the right outcomes for the industry.”
DairyNZ needed to ensure all contributors, not just dairy farmers, were taken into consideration on water quality issues so investment in advocacy would continue to increase, he said. It increased levy spending on industry advocacy to 14% in 2013-14 to support farmers at central and local government level. Since March 2013 DairyNZ had written 30 submissions to regional councils and central government on behalf of farmers.
DairyNZ would also continue to put a large proportion of the milksolids levy towards farm-systems research in the next few years to help farmers retain a competitive edge under the new nutrient limits, Mackle said.
During the 2013-14 season DairyNZ put 28% of the levy towards research and development to increase farm profit.
“We will be doing a lot of work on systems and helping farmers adapt systems to be profitable.”
If the levy was supported it would remain at 3.6c/kg MS until at least May 2016 and the cap would remain at 5c/kg MS, Mackle said.
The forecast levy income received from farmers for 2013-14 was $61 million, which had increased from $43.2m in 2008. DairyNZ spent $20.6m of the levy on salaries and wages for staff last year. It had increased staff numbers from 200 to 250 since the 2008 levy vote, mostly to provide specialist advice on animal welfare, effluent management, environmental compliance, water quality science and catchment work.
Communication with all farmers was still the biggest challenge, Mackle said.
DairyNZ held 1700 discussion groups last year but only half of dairy farms were represented at a discussion group or event.
The DairyNZ website, which has a re-launch this month to be more user-friendly, will be a key channel. Website traffic has risen, with unique browser numbers going up from 85,000 in 2008 to 150,000 this year. Page impressions had increased from 880,000 to 1.6m.
DairyNZ hoped more farmers would take part in the levy vote this year, after only 52% of potential votes were received in 2008, Mackle said.
“We do really want to increase participation. We think it’s important. It is the dairy farmers’ organisation – they own it and we work for them.”
But there was a risk the high forecast payout could make farmers more relaxed and less likely to vote, he said.
“We are a bit wary of that. It happens in elections when people are happy. It can be a bit more of a challenge.”
