Development of a dairy industry in a new area ‐ land use change in Canterbury, New Zealand

Canterbury dairying increased from 20,000 ha in 1980-81 to 255,000 ha in 2013-14. During this time, Canterbury production increased from 2% of New Zealand’s milk to 19%. This paper examines factors that influenced this increase. The analysis draws on case studies of industry participants, a survey, and secondary data. There were three waves of development. Wave 1 (1980s) farmers were entrepreneurs who saw Canterbury as a desirable place to live with new economic opportunities related to dairying. Wave 2 (1990s) convertors were a mix of corporate entities and traditional sheep/crop farmers who aimed to increase farm profitability. Wave 3 (since 2000) convertors have included cropping farmers and expanding dairy farming businesses developing large, intensive farms. This wave included substantial investment from non-farmers, particularly through equity partnerships. The research identified growth factors that could be classified as enablers, drivers, and facilitators ‐ with some factors fitting into more than one classification. Enablers were necessary for growth but by themselves did not create the growth. In contrast, drivers were the fundamental determinants of growth. Facilitators were factors that did not either enable or drive growth, but did influence growth. Enablers included aspects of the political and economic environments. These included new institutional sources of finance. The prior existence of a local processing cooperative and an established vertically integrated supply chain were also of critical importance. Drivers of land change included changing levels of profitability between farming systems, the development of a new resource (irrigation) and the perceived potential to grow wealth through business growth and thereby fulfil personal objectives. Increased industry profitability then fuelled further development. New irrigation technologies were both enablers and facilitators. Extension, consulting and the development of input supply companies were all important facilitators

Demonstration farms and technology transfer: the case of the Lincoln University dairy farm

In 2001, Lincoln University and six commercial, education and research partners established a 161 hectare dairy farm (milking platform) and formed the South Island Dairy Development Centre (SIDDC) to demonstrate ‘best practice’ for South Island dairy farmers. In 2008, to assess the impact of the Lincoln University Dairy Farm (LUDF), a survey was sent to 622 farmers located in the LUDF extension catchment. Responses totalled 146 (24% response rate). The mean age of respondents was 45 years with 77% having some form of tertiary education. Respondents had higher milksolids production per cow (419 kg) and per hectare (1441 kg) than the Canterbury averages (381kg and 1224kg respectively). Most respondents (86%) identified themselves as using moderate levels of supplementary feeding (Systems 2, 3, 4). Nearly 70% of respondents attended at least one focus day (field day) over a three year period. Most attended to learn about grazing and animal management, to benchmark against the LUDF from a production and financial standpoint, and to learn about environmental management. Focus day attendees had larger operations and higher levels of productivity than those who never attended. Over 68% of respondents visited the farm website each year, with some visiting more than 30 times, but mainly to view benchmarking data rather than to learn about new technologies Of the technologies promoted by the LUDF, 82% of farmers had adopted low grazing residuals and 74% had re-grassed paddocks based on monitoring. Lower numbers had adopted synchronisation of heifers to calve a week before the main herd (29%), aggressive hormone intervention for non-cycling (42%) and a nil induction policy (36%). Over 70% felt that the adoption of some of the LUDF technologies had made their farm management easier. Twenty three farmers were willing to place an economic value on the adoption of LUDF practices. These ranged from NZ$50,000 per year to NZ$1,000,000 per year. It is concluded that a demonstration farm with clearly defined extension messages can be effective at achieving farmer adoption that adoption is high for messages where farmers see clear economic advantages, and that farmers obtain information from a wide variety of sources