consumers

Are microplastics entering NZ’s dairy supply? This report by Nicky Halley explores potential risks, public concern, and practical steps for farmers, industry, and policymakers to safeguard health, trust, and the nation’s clean, green reputation.

This report explores the feasibility of NZ dairy farmers selling raw and pasteurised milk direct from the farm. It finds strong consumer interest and financial potential, but highlights significant regulatory, operational, and mindset challenges requiring targeted support and strategic planning.

This research was conducted with the purpose of understanding more deeply the current market in which we are operating and where our social licence currently sits. The major focus of our industry appears to be a focus on telling our story, which relies entirely on the truth of that story being palatable to the New Zealand public and the assumption that rural New Zealand shares the same worldview as urban New Zealand.

I have conducted many interviews over the last few months throughout the bobby calf supply chain, these have been conducted in person and via “Teams” meetings over the internet. Some of the interviews have been recorded, and others who wanted to remain anonymous I only took notes. Once I had conducted all my interviews I broke down the information into common themes to ascertain what current value these calves currently contribute to our economy and was their life a life worth living? Did that life add value?

I explored the ways that we can get dairy farming women into New Zealand boardrooms to see better outcomes for our businesses and economy. This is not about men versus women or disregarding the importance of experience, it is about what we need to do to be closing the gender gap on boards, having diversity of thought around the boardroom and avoiding ‘group think’. It is about the individual having the confidence to bring their true self to the table and express their views.

The aim is to understand the current plant breeding technologies and compare them to the controversial genetic technologies which have recently become available to New Zealand, such as genomic selection, marker-assisted selection, genetic modification, and gene editing.

As demand begins to exceed supply access to water, or a lack thereof, will likely lead to increased social and political instability and tensions between neighbouring countries – particularly when there is a shared water resource involved. Although New Zealand is unlikely to face some of the more extreme challenges that will arise globally, we will still have our own unique issues to overcome as a country. Already we are beginning to feel the impacts of a changing climate with more extreme weather patterns. In 2020 much of the country experienced what many described as the worst drought on record. The issue is, this drought was not the only catastrophic drought in living memory – in fact, it wasn’t even the only catastrophic drought to hit New Zealand in the past decade. Only seven years earlier we had experienced similar scenes across much of the country.