Two full days, 800 people, and a huge amount to absorb – this year the DairyNZ biannual forum was obviously a ‘must do’ for dairy farmers, and every session and workshop was given to packed houses.

There were no magic bullets or false hopes handed out, but a wealth of practical advice on how our products get sold, what our overseas markets expect of us, and how to cope with our third bounce in volatility since 2007 at farm levels.

While there was some comfort in remarks indicating the recent burst of increased production overseas was already slowing in some countries, those attending were reminded a 93 per cent export level, on three per cent of world production, made us need to be very aware of our bargaining chips and overall credibility of product, production methods, and sustainability. With tourism creeping ahead of dairy in value, there can be no easy claims on any of our overseas markets.

The strong emphasis on ‘pasture-first’ is going to be something of a re-learning curve for many farmers, young and older. The easy days of the last few years, when supplements appeared cheap and made less work, are over. The DNZ Spring Rotation Planner will be dug out, pored over, and residuals and long pasture breaks were emphasised by a number of speakers.

Our credence

People in the various countries we export to may value quite different aspects of what Dr Caroline Saunders called ‘our credence’. How much do we know about these preferences, and how collected are our efforts to promote The New Zealand Story? Not enough by the sound of it. Fonterra is trying a whole range of new ideas, aimed at the younger market, but a session with all of the milk companies produced some very varied and individualised approaches to adding value to our milk.

There were many references to ‘Origin Green’, Ireland’s new collective approach which is working well for their producers. But we were also reminded EU and UK subsidies can make such efforts much easier, rather than farmer cash having to fund most of our story.

There was much interest in a session where Zespri demonstrated the width and depth of their support structure to growers during the Psa-V vine disease outbreak. But there were smiles at the news exports were growing and booming now from the changes made. Industry members looking after each other is what got them through, and for some it took four years.

Low-cost farming

A low-cost farmer session, where four farmers revealed their methods and costings, emphasised the different scenarios being faced by those new to the game and those whose businesses had reached maturity and lower debt levels.

The depth and breadth of what was covered in two days should have been a comfort to those looking for information. And no doubt the time spent with others in the same boat took away some of the immediate strain. There seemed to be more smiles by the end.