Tuesday, 29 September 2020 06:55

$50m dryer boosts sheep milk exports

Written by  Staff Reporters

A new industrial spray dryer at Waikato Innovation Park will boost annual sheep milk exports by $200 million.

The $50m dryer started production in July and is a commercial partnership between a Park subsidiary and three other investment partners.

The new spray dryer sits alongside the existing Food Waikato dryer completed in 2012 and has 2.4 times the capacity of the older dryer at 1.2 tonnes of powder/hour.

Waikato Innovation Park chief executive Stuart Gordon says the dryer will meet the burgeoning demand for sheep milk products, with the industry aiming to double in size year-on-year for the next three years. The new spray dryer is tailored to the unique requirements of sheep milk. 

“This development is a real breakthrough for the sheep milk industry. 

“With the existing dryer producing $50 million in exports per year, we’re predicting that the new dryer will produce a further $200 million annually in export products,” says Gordon.

Labour leader Jacinda Ardern visited the new dryer last week while on a campaign tour of Waikato.

Gordon says construction is also moving forward rapidly on the Innovation Park’s expansion, which will see the Park’s physical infrastructure extend its size by more than 30%, adding more than 2900sqm to the business and technology hub.

With the roof set to complete on October 2021, Gordon says the new building is already filling up with tenants and is expected to be fully operational by the end of April 2021.

During her visit, Ardern also visited several tenants including biotechnology company Quantec. Specialising in identifying and extracting high-performance bioactives from natural products, Quantec develops and markets proprietary ingredient formulations for human and animal health applications.

Quantec discovered and patented Immune Defense Proteins, or IDP, a novel milk fraction which has proven antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties.

“It’s great to have the Prime Minister back here in her home region, to show her the thriving technology hub that is the Waikato, and this Park,” says Gordon.

More like this

Getting sheep shape at Pyramid Farm

The vineyards at Pyramid Farm in Marlborough’s Avon Valley have never been run of the mill, with plantings that follow the natural contours of the land, 250 metres above sea level.

Mixed season for Waikato contractors

Last season was a mixed bag for Waikato contractors, with early planted forage maize, planted on the dry soils around Cambridge, doing badly after germination and failing to meet potential, says Jeremy Rothery, Jackson Contracting.

Featured

Australia develops first local mRNA FMD vaccine

Foot and Mouth Disease outbreaks could have a detrimental impact on any country's rural sector, as seen in the United Kingdom's 2000 outbreak that saw the compulsory slaughter of over six million animals.

NZ household food waste falls again

Kiwis are wasting less of their food than they were two years ago, and this has been enough to push New Zealand’s total household food waste bill lower, the 2025 Rabobank KiwiHarvest Food Waste survey has found.

Editorial: No joking matter

OPINION: Sir Lockwood Smith has clearly and succinctly defined what academic freedom is all about, the boundaries around it and the responsibility that goes with this privilege.

National

All eyes on NZ milk supply

All eyes are on milk production in New Zealand and its impact on global dairy prices in the coming months.

Machinery & Products

Leader balers arrive in NZ

Officially launched at the National Fieldays event in June, the Leader in-line conventional PRO 1900 balers are imported and distributed…

JDLink Boost for NZ farms

Connectivity is widely recognised as one of the biggest challenges facing farmers, but it is now being overcome through the…

New generation Defender HD11

The all-new 2026 Can-Am Defender HD11 looks likely to raise the bar in the highly competitive side-by-side category.

» Latest Print Issues Online

Milking It

Full cabinet

OPINION: Legislation being drafted to bring back the controversial trade of live animal exports by sea is getting stuck in the…

» Connect with Dairy News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter