New Zealand Dairy Story: Dairy Goodness For The World

The Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand (DCANZ) is proud that dairy has joined other export sectors in telling its story through the New Zealand Story initiative to ‘make New Zealand famous for more good things’.

The New Zealand Dairy Story has been added to the New Zealand Story online toolkit (https://www.nzstory.govt.nz/) and is one of dairy goodness for the world.

“The New Zealand Dairy Story sets out New Zealand’s unique combination qualities as a country – our natural advantages, our care, our ingenuity and our integrity – and how they come together to make New Zealand a great source of milk, and therefore of dairy nutrition for a sustainable diet” says DCANZ Chairman Malcolm Bailey.

The Dairy Story starts with New Zealand’s favourable environment for producing one of the building blocks of affordable healthy diets. A temperate climate, good soils, and abundant rainfall provide the potential for year-round pasture grazing. The milk produced is a highly digestible source of the 9 essential amino acids (which must be consumed through diet) and naturally contains other essential vitamins and minerals.

Milk is also the number one contributor of calcium, riboflavin (B2), and vitamin B12 to New Zealander’s diets and is the number two source of protein. This nutritional contribution is extended globally with New Zealand being one of a small number of dairy net exporting countries.

“New Zealand’s annual milk production is roughly equivalent to the recommended dietary intake of dairy for 90 million people” says Bailey.

The Dairy Story highlights New Zealand’s cultural characteristics of trust, integrity, and ingenuity, which underpin a strong global reputation for product safety and quality. New Zealand achieving a score 100 out of 100 for food safety in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Food Security Index is celebrated.

“It’s important that our global customers know that food safety is at the heart of everything we do as an industry” says Bailey. “Equally we are committed to treasuring and preserving our natural advantages and to caring for our place and its people.”

New Zealand’s world-leading carbon footprint for milk is highlighted, noting that this stems from a combination of pastural grazing systems and healthy cows.

An industry mindset spanning generations, of always striving to be better, combined with ingenuity and reliable problem solving has built an industry that now turns milk into more than 1500 products and product specifications, and generates almost $20 billion in annual export returns.

This same drive, to successfully rise to challenges, is today being directed to farming even more sustainably, including through initiatives like the He Waka Eke Noa Primary Sector Climate Change partnership to support farmers in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

“The New Zealand Dairy Story will help to make us better known for these qualities as a dairy producer, bringing together all the aspects of New Zealand dairy that make it uniquely valued” says Bailey.

Developed by Tourism New Zealand, New Zealand Trade & Enterprise, and Education New Zealand, the New Zealand Story aims to enhance New Zealand’s global reputation by creating stories that demonstrate the unique values of kaitiaki, integrity, and ingenuity.

The New Zealand Dairy Story was developed in partnership by DCANZ, New Zealand Story, and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise with input and support from DairyNZ, Federated Farmers, and Dairy Women’s network. It adds dairy-specific resources to the New Zealand Story toolkit.

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