State of the Dairy Nation 2024/25: DairyNZ Highlights Record Milk Production and Export Growth

In the levy body's newly released State of the Dairy Nation report, Parker says the dairy industry has stood out as the economic backbone both for regional New Zealand and the country as a whole.

He says the sector has been "setting records for production and overseas earnings, while sustaining tens of thousands of meaningful and increasingly well remunerated jobs".

The report states that 21 billion litres of milk were produced during the season containing 1.94 billion kilograms of milksolids.

Milk volume was up 2.3% and milksolids were up 2.9% to 55 million kilograms despite cow numbers being down 0.5% to 4.68 million.

"New Zealand dairy farmers are achieving more," the report states. "Despite having fewer cows, they have achieved record milk production per cow and continued making genetic progress in their herds.

"This is the result of decades of genetic improvement, targeted use of feed supplements, farmers' sustained foxu on rearing high-producing cows, improving milk quality at both the individual farm business level, and through industry-good initiatives by DairyNZ and others."

Looking ahead, the report states that strong milk production in New Zealand, supported by supplementary feed, is still expected to increase export volumes.

"December milksolids (MS) collected rose 3.1% year-on-year to 235,413,000 kgMS, surpassing the midpoint expectation of a 1.7% increase," the report states.

"This record contribution is no accident," Parker says. "It reflects the long-term efforts of farmers, supported by industry good organisations and constructive government policies to drive productivity, resilience and sustainability in the sector."

"It also points to strong fundamentals and a great future for New Zealand's dairy sector even amid changing market conditions and global volatility."