The Great Futures in Dairying Plan

Farmers reported that they didn't have the right information to construct competitive job offers. The Job Competitiveness Calculator was launched in April 2023 to support farmers with this. It compares offers from other industries to describe what it takes to be competitive. The calculator was developed using insights and case studies from farmers.

Every year multiple organisations offer farmers opportunities to increase their leadership and HR competence.

• Rural Leaders, together with Food & Fibre CoVE, developed MyLead – a tool which generates a leadership development pathway for users, based on two data inputs – current leadership stage and industry.
• Dairy Training Ltd offer a micro-credential for Emerging Leaders.
• DairyNZ developed material for regional teams to support discussions with farmers looking to improve these skills. In 2023/24, 280 farmers engaged in one-on-one conversations and 2200 people attended events on these topics.
• Agri-Womens Development Trust, Dairy Women's Network and Rural Leaders offer a range of opportunities to develop leadership capability, and some HR workshops.
• DairyNZ and DWN partner to deliver People Expo events, focused on improving people leadership.
• A range of commercial options for improving HR capabilities exist through private providers, from workshops to one-on-one consultations.
• Resources developed by DairyNZ include finding good people, employment admin and legal requirements, and building a great team.

Employer certification was put forward as a strategy to enhance retention and attraction in the sector. A project to evaluate certification schemes found no empirical evidence to support their impact on retention and attraction. However, there were aspects of certification schemes, mainly related to engaging and training staff, that were shown to lead to increased productivity. These are two practices employers can work on without the need for a certification scheme. The study found farmers were concerned about what could be seen as additional “compliance” and thought any requirements should be incorporated into dairy company assurance schemes.

Some dairy companies now include employment and health and safety components into their incentive programmes for leadership practices, for example Fonterra - The Co-operative Difference, and Synlait - Lead with Pride.

In the medium term, we expect higher levels of certification will be required to support product integrity claims. As requirements emerge, we will collaborate with farmers and other stakeholders to determine the best approach for a sustainable and value-adding certification criteria.

DairyNZ and Federated Farmers continue to actively engage in immigration policy. Our focus is to provide sustainable, realistic immigration settings and quicker processing times. In March 2025, the wage threshold for dairy farm assistants was reduced to market rates and the visa length was extended to three years.

In August 2025, calf rearer and relief milker roles were added to the list of roles that can qualify for seasonal work visas. Herd manager and more senior roles remain on the Green List, enabling an important pathway to residency for highly capable employees.

Sponsored by DairyNZ, the Rural Support Trust has taken the lead on providing advice to employees on wellbeing and employment relationship issues when things aren’t going to plan. Rural employees can ring 0800 694 121 or get in touch via email to get support.

Dairy Training Ltd (DTL) is piloting NextGen in Canterbury, which provides a supported transition from school into dairy farming. If successful, this could be expanded, but is restricted to school leavers.

Grassroots Dairy Graduate Management Programme (run by Canterbury farmers), is now in its fourth year, From February to November, the program develops tertiary graduates who are required to complete 25 group training modules while employed by local farmers with competitive conditions. The intention is to create future leaders of the dairy sector.

NZ Young Farmers continues to provide opportunities for young people to connect and learn in rural New Zealand.

Sector partners including DairyNZ, DWN, Fonterra, NZYF, Agribusiness in Schools, and HATA regularly promote opportunities and career pathways through storytelling media.

From 2022-2024, DairyNZ invested over $2M in attraction/dairy promotion work with secondary and tertiary education, either directly, or through Agribusiness in Schools and Sow the Seed. At the same time, DairyNZ invested approx. $1.24M in attract work, primarily through the GoDairy programme.

Dairy Training Limited, a subsidiary of DairyNZ, offers a Contract Milking short course to support first-time contract milkers to understand the benefits and risks when starting their own business. We hope to see fewer people prematurely leaving the sector as a result.

Muka Tangata, the People Food and Fibre Workforce Development Council, offers a Dairy Workforce Development Plan, focused on how the vocational education system can support individuals to build the capability required for a successful career, and to enable dairy farm businesses to be successful into the future. This is underpinned by workforce data projects, the Shared Data Platform from Muka Tangata and Food and Fibre Workforce Insights from the Ministry for Primary Industries.

The New Approach to Learning Pathways discussion document, prepared by Muka Tangata in 2023, examined how good design of qualifications system, standards, and micro-credentials could enable greater flexibility in vocational education and training. This led to the development of the Food and Fibre Skills Framework and the Core Transferable Skills required.

Since March 2024, Muka Tangata’s Entry Level Qualification Development Project has been reviewing the New Zealand Certificate in Primary Industry Skills (Level 2) and the New Zealand Certificate in Primary Industry Operational Skills (Level 3). The project aims to simplify these entry-level qualifications, enhance transferability, and create smaller, stackable learning modules.

DairyNZ’s workplace productivity research project took an in-depth look at over 150 dairy farms to understand workplace efficiency. The results and opportunities for improved efficiency can be found here: Workplace Productivity Study. In 2024/25, 10 case studies were completed to understand workplace productivity and the drivers that impact it, alongside investigating options to reduce hours worked.

In 2025, DairyNZ is developing workplace productivity metrics to enable both the sector and individual farms to track performance.

MilkSmart is a one-day programme focused on benchmarking current milking performance, sharpening up milking routines and introducing the principles of maximum milking time (MaxT). This programme is being run again in 2025/26, with 20 events nationwide.

Reducing injury risk underpins efficiency and was investigated in the joint DairyNZ/ACC Sprains and Strains Project, which delivered a number of practical solutions, including the Easy Entry Calf Trailer. In 2025, the project won the Innovation Category at the New Zealand Health and Safety Awards.

DairyNZ’s five yearly tracking survey of technology use on farm shows automation investment remains a focus for farmers, and wearables are on the rise. See what farmers are doing, and not doing so much of here: Milking Practices and Technology Use.

DairyNZ has undertaken significant research on alternative milking patterns and timeframes to enable farmers to better understand what milking practice might best suit their farm and goals.

Commercial technology companies continue to invest and innovate, developing options for farmers. Farmers report that these technologies are enhancing enjoyment of work, changing what a working day looks like, and changing the capabilities required of the farm team.

DairyNZ’s five yearly tracking survey of technology use on farm shows automation investment remains a focus for farmers, and wearables are rising in popularity. The sector (both industry good and commercial organisations) invest in showing farmers the opportunities automation presents, alongside the challenges and changes in capability, to optimise outcomes from the investment. See what farmers are doing here: Milking Practices and Technology Use.

The dairy sector ensures a presence for youth and for job seekers at key entry points into dairy careers.

The Food & Fibre Centre of Vocational Education Excellence investigated Secondary School Transitions and Pathways to VET and Employment to understand the effectiveness of the ecosystem between school and food and fibre. They carried out a review of Apprenticeships, what they mean in the food and fibre sector, and how they might be relevant in the future to encourage transitions into the sector.

The Food & Fibre Cove has completed a review of attraction and retention projects that can be found here: Attraction and Retention Research Programme. This is being used to shape initiatives for the future.

DairyNZ worked with MPI and MBIE on a project with Pasifika peoples in South Canterbury to stimulate interest in on-farm dairy careers and better understand how we can support transitions into the sector. See the Pasifika Showcase video.

Whilst prioritising New Zealanders remain the focus, DairyNZ and Federated Farmers have been successful in getting calf rearer and relief milker roles approved for the Peak Seasonal Visa, which will be available from December 2025. This will allow international employees to work in the dairy sector for up to seven months each year to fill workforce shortages.

MPI funded and developed the ‘Opportunity Grows Here’ campaign, running from 2020 to 2023, focusing on showcasing the variety of careers in the primary sector.