New Zealand Dairy

DAIRY
The taste of milk products from grass-fed animals who have space to roam, gives New Zealand dairy a full-flavoured natural quality that sets it apart.
Cheese platter
Dairy is the backbone of New Zealand's food and beverage industry - it is the world's top dairy exporter and accounts for a third of the world's dairy trade. As New Zealand's biggest export earner (exports totalled NZ$12.1 billion in 2011), dairy contributes 25 percent to New Zealand's merchandise export earnings.
New Zealand's efficient all-grass farming system, large-scale processing, high levels of research and development investment, and creative marketing are key strengths of the industry.
We can provide everything from high-quality basics such as butter and cheese, through to gourmet ice cream and specialised ingredients like spray-dried milk proteins.  Development of new functional foods (ie low-fat, high calcium and protein milk) and biomedical and biohealth products are also growing trends in the industry.
Excellent hygiene and quality technology put New Zealand dairy among the most reliable in the world. You can feel secure consuming products that comply with our rigorous health and safety standards.
Industry structure
Dairy co-operatives have been part of the industry since 1871. The industry is one of New Zealand's largest and best examples of a vertically integrated, co-ordinated global supplier industry. The dominant players are Fonterra, Tatua and Westland. Other players include Open Country Cheese, Goodman Fielder and Synlait.
Innovation
New Zealand's dairy innovations include:
a partnership between Fonterra and GE Healthcare, a leading healthcare company, to tackle bone health issues using Anlene products and GE's bone mineral density technology
achieving a world-first by breeding cows that produce low-fat milk that is also high in omega3 oils and polyunsaturated fat. The cows were bred from a single female discovered by researchers to have a particular genetic mutation during a routine milk  screening programme
developing the world's first commercialised infant formula from goat milk and the world's first long-life goat milk. The company behind this innovation, Dairy Goat Co-operative NZ Limited, continues to develop and make a range of premium specialty formulations based on goat milk
the world's first processing plant to produce complex lipids from milk - the result of a long-term collaboration between Fonterra's ingredients business and Industrial  Research Limited. In a purified form, these lipids can be worth thousands of dollars a kilogram.  They have a variety of applications in nutritional and cosmetic applications.
Regional strengths
The North Island is home to 68 percent of New Zealand's dairy cattle, with approximately 30 percent of the country's total located in the Waikato region. Taranaki is the second most populated region at 11 percent. Dairy cattle in the South Island accounts for 32 percent of the national total.
Other specific regional activity includes a cluster of dairy sheep farmers in Otago and Southland, which is focusing on three key areas:
producing sheep milk for cheese plants such as Whitestone Cheese (added-value sheep milk cheese)
feta cheese production
biotech applications.
A dairy education and innovation centre in the Manawatu also offers specific graduate training for the dairy industry by Massey University in conjunction with Fonterra.
Organic production
Organic production is expected to be worth more than $130 million within a few years. There are more than 100 organic dairy farms in the North Island. Taranaki, Waikato and the Bay of Plenty have regional clusters of organic milk producers. There are around 200 suppliers of organic farming inputs, such as seaweed drenches and organic fertilisers and animal health products, supporting the sector.