Every New Zealander is better off today thanks to the nation’s dairy cows – and that’s no exaggeration.
We will continue to be better off into the future, too, because of this important sector and its powerful links to the overall wellbeing of New Zealanders.
The nutritional benefits of dairy to the human body as part of a balanced diet are factually documented.
Dairy is also central to many of our culinary cultures – from crumbly cheddar and smooth brie to ice cream, yoghurts and butter for baking or on toast with marmalade.
What might not necessarily be as readily understood is the way the dairy sector helps provide many of the things Kiwis say matter to them.
As we look at what makes life good and what can make it better I want to cast light on how dairy works with every drop of milk to help improve our lives, from helping pay for the goods and services we value to helping reduce the price of others, including imported items.
At the same time dairy farmers, who are such innovators and are so responsive to the signals they receive, are improving their environmental practices, be it fencing and riparian planting to protect waterways, installing upgraded effluent systems or working to reduce greenhouse gases.
They are also playing a key role in communities nationwide as they work together to address issues with water quality.
Dairy is closely intertwined with the entire economy, contributing in so many ways to higher living standards for New Zealanders.
Quite simply, the healthier the country’s economy the better the quality of our lives, both now and into the future.
The dairy sector will earn NZ about $17.5 billion in export revenue this year and is set to top that next year.
That is greater than the revenue accruing to the forestry, meat, and wool sectors combined.
The entire economy benefits through dairy’s spending directly by dairy farmers and dairy companies buying from businesses across the country and indirectly.
To give insight into how dairy is linked to better standards of living for Kiwis, dairy injects the equivalent of $3500 a person.
That $3500 could buy everyone in the country two regular sized, flat, white coffees every day of the year or about 30 litres of petrol every week.
Dairy significantly helps fill the Government’s tax coffers, too, providing more money to pay for the essential services that help to improve people’s quality of life – education, hospitals, social security and welfare, police and so forth.
In the 2018-19 year we estimate dairy farmers paid about $0.5b in taxes.
For the 2019-20 year they will likely pay even more.
Dairy also delivers for regional government with rates and other charges helping pay for local infrastructure and services.
Last year farmers alone paid more than $200 million in rates.
The dairy sector employs 46,000 workers – that’s the entire population of Timaru, Canterbury’s second largest city or more than all those living in Upper Hutt. =
On-farm there are 34,000 full-time equivalent employees and 12,000 across 35-plus dairy processing plants.
Dairy sector employment has grown faster, at 3.1% a year, since 2000 than the rate of national job creation of 1.8% a year, boosting rural communities.
Not bad credentials really.
