Sip that fresh glass of New Zealand milk, cut a wedge of our cheese, and know the farmers behind it are world leaders in animal welfare and climate change. And unlike producers in many other nations, they do it without direct, free-trade distorting subsidies.
Federated Farmers is proud to endorse the messages in The New Zealand Dairy Story. It’s a resource launched this week that draws together facts and figures our exporters, government representatives, educators and others can use to continue to grow our global reputation for producing quality, highly-nutritious milk and more than 1500 other products and product specifications made from it.
“New Zealand’s farmers and dairy companies produce the equivalent of two and a half serves of milk per day for around 90 million people each year, many of whom are in Asia, the Middle East and Africa, where there are not the same natural resources to produce milk,” Federated Farmers Dairy Chair Wayne Langford says.
“Being direct subsidy-free is an important part of our performance against a key target within the UN Sustainable Development Goals (2b), which is to correct and prevent trade restrictions and distortions in world agricultural markets.”
Our temperate climate and our soils are such that our cows can be outside almost every day, eating grass, behaving naturally and having space to roam, Wayne says.
New Zealand milk is also produced at around one third of the global average of greenhouse gas emissions per kilogram. As The New Zealand Dairy Story points out, it means that while we’re producing three per cent of the world’s milk, we’re doing it for only one percent of the world’s milk emissions.
“Our dairy story really is one of integrity, innovation and kaitiakitanga and I know our Federated Farmers dairy members are really proud to be part of it,” Wayne says.